Dark Pursuit
by Novalion
Summary: Larry and Ludwig thought this was another reconnaissance mission. But something much sinister is making a return, and the two brothers find themselves in a race against time to track down their unknown enemy.
1. PROLOGUE

**PROLOGUE - Neon Stars**

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><p>Larry always had a strange fascination with the stars.<p>

It was one of those things that couldn't really be explained through conventional means, but he just loved them. Ever since he was a little Koopaling, freshly hatched out of an egg and thrust into the big bad world, he was always partial to the shape of the star. But to say he was partial was a true understatement - the drawings that adorned in his room were always rough sketches of stars which he held as his pride and joy (even acting indignant whenever Junior offered to teach him some lessons in art, although Larry admitted that Junior was so much more creative and talented than he ever could be).

It seemed like destiny that he wore a star shaped birthmark, prominent on the side of his face. The many times he was teased for it, he just wore it like a badge of honour and not even resisting cracking a few jokes about how Lemmy had helped him out with it. This, of course, referred to the time that he spent a lot of time with Lemmy in his younger years learning how to balance on a circus ball and annoy Iggy with those skills.

He always felt guilty that he didn't do that anymore with Lemmy nowadays, what with being so tied up in work and training. He usually just retired to the rumpus room and napped there for a while until dinner time. Even though there was a large age gap between the two, Larry had little to no energy compared to Lemmy. And he was supposed to the second-youngest.

Speaking of energy, the little Koopaling stifled a yawn. If he could be honest, the city was proving to be a little overwhelming.

But it was still telling that even though the city skyline was lined with neon blue, the technological flair that spread throughout the entire city, the amount of lights and signs that would almost be blinding if you weren't used to it.. the stars shone with full force. A little Koopaling in a big city, staring up at what shone down on him. He was entranced.

And then he came back down to the earth. He was here on a mission.

Larry sighed and ran a hand over his face - he was too tired for this. Even though he had gone to a million places on his own to do reconnaissance he had never been to a genuine city.

And what luck would have it that it be the one where anyone remotely associated with Bowser wouldn't dropkick them over the border before they could even raise a finger. Toad City had never been the target of their ire and they had hosted a few races that had Bowser and themselves amongst their ranks.. kart racing around the turnpike. Fun times.

But that didn't stop him from sticking out like a sore Goomba. Even just walking from the airport to the Neon District had earned him a few strange looks.

Toads, he thought to himself more than once. They're strange little creatures.

Walking along Samba Street had yielded nothing. Larry felt that his thoughts about King Dad being a tad bit paranoid were on the mark. What was he going on about anyway? He suddenly sends all the Koopalings out on assignments, telling them nothing other than follow whatever darkness you can find.

It had been almost a few years since.. the incident. That cursed thing was obliterated ages ago.

He let out a long drawn out sigh before turning around. He was going to call it and just come back empty handed. He couldn't find anything.

Life had a weird way of making things go the way he didn't expect them to.

Larry felt something cold trickle against his back. It felt like rain, but he was pretty sure that it wasn't raining. It was a different kind of cold. It made him shiver still, but he also had that sense of dread. It felt like it was creeping into his stomach and up his throat, and it made his eyes hurt. For a moment, there was a disconnection from the world around him. Out of the corner of his eye though, something streaked by him in a quick movement. As soon as it passed, he returned to normal, albeit still shivering.

What the-?

He looked back over his shoulder and then to his front again. He wasn't sure if anyone saw it.. the cars rolled by as normal, Toad's that were walking that time of night seemed none the wiser. But Larry could see it. He wasn't going crazy.

Down the street and to the right, a visible streak of darkness permeated the air and formed a vapor trail. Clear as day in the street.

Was it true? Larry just paused for a split moment to think on that, before he summoned his scepter from his shell. Even if it wasn't, he had to investigate it. Whatever made him feel like that was nothing good.

And so the Koopaling took off down the street, ignoring the looks he got for running out with his weapon drawn, probably thinking he was a criminal with no one doing anything about it. He didn't care. He just had to catch up with this thing.

He reached the corner of Samba and Bean, making a quick right. It still continued down the long, drawn out street. Larry carried himself on at a fair pace, the hours of practicing tennis finally paying off. He felt stronger in his legs, he wasn't nearly as winded as he used to get. The thumping of his feet against the pavement and his heart against his chest accompanied him all the way down to Memorial Square.

The darkness lingered there. It was there, looking for something.. if it was such a thing. The Koopaling panted, not expecting to catch up with the darn thing. And as he walked down the stairs, edging closer to where it was lingering, he felt the same feeling that he had felt not only ten minutes ago. The fear, the anxiety welling up in him. Such a baby.. but he couldn't help it. Every time he came into contact with this, it seemed that he just felt that way.

It was getting harder and harder to approach it with each step. His heart raced even faster. He was struggling, that was for sure.

But then, suddenly, it disappeared.

Larry felt all the anxiety lift off him, but frustration came at him as well after the stark realization of what had just happened.

It was gone.

He sighed and lowered his scepter in defeat. What the heck was that about? How come no one else saw that?

A guttural growling was heard from behind him, and immediately Lawrence Koopa spun around. And what he saw shocked him to the core.

Toads. The ones he had seemingly passed in the street, except they were different. They were.. they were dark. Yellow eyes of evil, guttural growls resonating from their throats, arms raised with talons poised to strike. One of them pounced at him quickly, boasting a speed that he hadn't anticipated.

He was knocked onto his shell, dazed and winded, but still clutching his weapon. He regained his senses, just as the Toad attempted to leap on him. He quickly used his scepter as a blunt weapon, hitting the enemy away from him. But as he got to his feet, the Toad had regained as well and was growling still. That growl.. Larry knew it would creep up on his nightmares sooner or later. He whipped around in the defensive stance, watching the other Toad advance towards him.

"Get back!" He said, although it sounded weak as he said it. "Get back.. don't.. don't make me..!"

But they continued. The talons were sharp and glistening and wanted to dig their darkness into his flesh. They wanted nothing more than to eliminate this Koopaling. So Larry had no choice but to commit something he thought he'd never do.

His scepter glowed with power as he charged up an energy spell, the first one he thought of and fired it quickly at the first Toad.

His aim was good and true, and the beam of energy struck the dark beast right in the chest. It let out a strangled cry of pain before evaporating completely. The noise reverberated among the buildings surrounding them, piercing Larry's ears. But he had no time to linger on it.

He charged up and again, fired another spell at the second enemy.

The result was the same - it struck the being in the head this time, but it let out his own howl of pain before it disintegrated.

And then silence. Silence except Larry's panting, his heart beating a million miles an hour and the slow realisation that he had just murdered two Toads.

"N-no.." He gasped, staring at the spots where they just were. "What.. what happened?! They weren't.. they weren't themselves. It was self defense but.. they were.. no."

He had to fish for the walkie-talkie that he kept on himself at all times. The other Koopaling on the line was most likely Ludwig. He would believe him. Ludwig always did. Or at the very least, not second guess what he was being told.

But suddenly, he felt cold again. Very cold. Shivers ran up and down Larry's spine. His throat seized up. He even dropped his weapon, but he didn't notice. The dark was back. And it was wrapping itself around him. And as cold and unforgiving it felt, making Larry feel like he was going to pass out or just cry from sheer terror, in a strange way it was inviting. He was tired and scared. And at least it was going to help with the tired part. Even though he tried to resist at every turn, he felt himself become more disconnected from the world.

And then, it spoke into his ear. And it was a voice that he would never forget.

"I wouldn't worry about them.. I would worry.. about your family."


	2. The Beginning

**CHAPTER 1. - The Beginning**

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><p>Ludwig Von Koopa always thought of himself to be one of those Koopalings who kept a level head during a crisis. But he wouldn't deny that even this whole situation was starting to eat away at him. After all, it wasn't a usual day at the castle in whatever land that he had been assigned to. Larry had been gone for hours with nary a word spoken through their communicative devices. He knew that his younger brother was a professional; after all, they had been trained vigorously for this sort of thing. Lawrence was a sneaky Koopaling and if he had found anything, he would make shadowing it his top priority.<p>

Then again, it also wasn't out of the question for him to lose track and wander around the city.. no, that was too demeaning to his abilities. He knew what he was doing.

Still.. it was getting close to midnight. Ludwig knew that Larry could survive several days without sleep, but he wondered if it was a good idea to be wandering around the streets of Toad City so late at night.

Stop worrying about your younger brother, he thought to himself, he's not a baby - he'll be fine.

Still, there was a reason why they were assigned here. Ludwig counted off the orders in his head; Ludwig and Lawrence to Toad City, Iggy and Lemmy to Sarasaland, Morton and Roy to the Beanbean Kingdom and Wendy and Junior staying back to guard the castle. They all deployed via their airships around the evening.

What was most worrying was that King Bowser wasn't there to deliver the orders. He had hastily written down on a piece of parchment for the eldest Koopaling to discover that morning.

Nothing explained as to the thought process of the orders, except a reminder of that horrible thing that happened a few years back.

Everyone was so calm. Stoic. He wondered if that was because they'd seen enough trouble in their lifetimes that the whole concept of being self-governing and self-sufficient and not being allowed to be children for a while had fully sunk in. He worried about the younger siblings in that regard - especially Lawrence. He just knew what was going on and had to follow the orders. He was forced to grow up too fast.

Ludwig worried about him quite a bit. Even if they never really talked to each other much. They were always doing their own thing with their interests at home being far apart. But inwardly, he worried that Bowser was forcing him to be an adult too fast. Ludwig had time to be a child and develop at his own pace. So did Lemmy. But as he went down the line, the process began to shrink until he got to Junior. As soon as Junior hatched, Bowser had carted him off to Isle Delfino to take part in more torment of Mario.

The poor younger Koopalings. They never had the chance to be Koopalings.

He stifled a yawn and rolled over on his chair. The airship was still sitting at the airfield outside of the city, and they decided that they would meet back there every night. Ludwig found nothing, radioed in to say he was returning to the airship and tried to rest. But he couldn't.

Not when Larry had been gone for hours.

"Ugh," He muttered to himself, a growl resonating through his throat as he slammed a fist onto the side of the chair. "I should have gone out ages ago!"

But then as if on cue, his walkie-talkie crackled to life. While spooking the already-tense Koopaling, Ludwig was relieved to hear Lawrence's voice. But then that relief turned to worry as his voice weakly crackled through, and Ludwig immediately assumed the worst.

"L-Ludwig.."

"Lawrence!" He replied quickly. "I'm here, I'm here! What happened?"

There was a pause that lasted for a second, but to the brother already in a state of worry it felt like several years.

But then Larry replied again. "Get the airship started.."

This time, Ludwig was the one who gave pause. ".. What? Why?"

Then it sounded like Larry was running. From what? "We've got to get back home.. now. I'll.. I'll meet you at the airfield. Don't come looking for me."

And then his voice faded out, the walkie-talkie crackled to affirm that he was off the line. Ludwig stared at the device, his mind flashing through with a million things. Blitzing through each and every awful scenario. What was his brother talking about? Why did he sound like something had taken his own shell and beaten him half to death with it? His elder brotherly instinct screamed at him to go out and find the poor bastard, but Lawrence was the leader of the Koopalings. And his word was irrefutable. So begrudgingly, Ludwig immediately dashed into the cockpit of the airship and began to start it up.

* * *

><p>Shivers wracked his body.<p>

He felt like he had been buried head to toe in snow, the aftermath of a bad party in Frappe Snowland.

Everything was blurry. His body hurt.

He tried so hard to snap into consciousness, but he felt heavy and cold.

The words that rang in his ears.

He let out a shuddering breath as he slowly came back to the real world, and he realised where he was. What had happened. He had defended himself against two Toads. Something made him pass out. It was that voice. That darkness.

Larry slowly managed to open his eyes. His vision slowly started to come back and he slowly noticed that he had passed out somewhere in the square where he had his impromptu fight. Groggily and mustering the strength, he pulled himself up.

Dizziness overtook him for a second and he reached out to grasp the stone fountain next to him.

"Ugh.." He murmured to himself, staring at the ground. "I feel like.." The word was clear in his mind, and very appropriate indeed but he just let it roll by in his mind, knowing that talking to himself wouldn't help. He sucked in some air through his mouth and leaned his head back, looking up towards the heavens. Everything was still the same as it normally was. Except the stars.

The stars were gone. But the city still went on as normal.

What time was it? He had no idea.

Larry looked around, wondering if anyone had seem what had happened. But it was strange. The traffic rolled by unaware of him, but there was no one in sight. If he had been seen something would have happened by now. Toads were reactionary. If one had seem him doing what he had done, they would have called the police. And getting into more trouble was the last thing he wanted at the moment.

_"I would worry about your family.."_

His head snapped up to attention, the words resonating in that deep, dark voice in his mind.

"Family..? Oh no... no no no!" He panicked to himself as he reached his walkie-talkie, still nestled in his shell and not broken. Thankfully. He had to know. The device shaking in his hand, he quickly pressed the red button. "Ludwig? L-Ludwig?! Are you there? L-Ludwig.."

To his utmost relief, Ludwig immediately replied. "Lawrence!" He crackled through. "I'm here, I'm here! What happened?!"

When he was really worried, Ludwig would adopt his faint Germanic accent. It went from soft to being the most prominent thing about his character. It was a subtle way of telling that the poor Koopaling was stressing himself out and being full of emotion than brains. Larry, for the moment, appreciated it.

And now he had to answer.. how though? How could he answer something like that? But then it would take too long. No, they had to get back home. If what happened and what said to him was true, then the castle was in more danger than they previously thought.

"Get the airship started.." He ordered. Although his weakness was coming through, it was definitely an order.

There was a pause on the other line, as if he was getting ready to argue. But Ludwig didn't argue. ".. What? Why?"

Larry looked around and began to leave the scene, picking up his scepter as he did so. His strength slowly returning, he began to quicken his pace down the street. Away from the crime scene. "We've got to get back home.. now. I'll.. I'll meet you at the airfield. Don't come looking for me."

And before he could reply or argue, he put the talkie away mid stride and continued running. He ran like his life depended on it.

Stupid stupid stupid! How could he pass out like that?! He had the vital information and he had let himself be overcome with.. with something! And now his family was in trouble! All because of him! Stupid!

He panted as he made his way across a busy section of the road, noting how the Toads seemingly came back onto the streets as if there hadn't been some sort of disastrous fight.. the fight.

Larry had killed two Toads.

He was a murderer.

The thought kept repeating over and over in his mind.

**_Murderer._**

**_Self-defense._**

**_Murderer._**

**_It was self-defense!_**

He growled and continued, even though he felt like he was going to pass out again. His leg stung and burned with the immense amount of running he was doing. Several blocks and he was nearly at the outskirts of the city. Passing under the turnpike and following the road to the airstrip.

He wanted to stop and cry over what he had done, but the images of his siblings kept popping up in his mind. No.. they couldn't be. He was responsible for them! He was the leader! King Bowser said so! He was responsible for all of them! No time to worry about himself or what he had done! Got to make sure everyone is okay!

One more road to cross before the long path down to the airfield. The city was beautiful at night and the countryside that surrounded it was much greater. It really was a nice city to be in.

Not even paying attention to what he was doing, Larry miscalculated his step and found himself suddenly thrust back into the world as he tripped over the curb and fell flat onto his face, letting out nothing more than a loud 'Oof!' Stinging pain quickly replaced the burning sensation in his legs.

"You okay there, boyo?" A nearby Toad asked with concern, seemingly unfazed by the fact that it was Larry Koopa. One of the most recognisable siblings of evil. And yet, there was the concern. But Larry didn't notice or didn't care. He rolled over to examine his leg, the one that he had fallen on. A few scrapes and a soon to be amazing bruise, but otherwise he was fine. Not even answering, he just got up and continued running.

Now his leg hurt like hell. But he kept running.

And nothing stopped him until he got to the airship. It sat briskly on one side of the airfield, its propellers spinning madly, waiting for its final and only passenger to board it. Using the scepter, he opened one of the flood doors magically and ran inside.

Ludwig, who was at the helm, suddenly heard a slam from behind him. And there was Larry, standing there looking worse for wear and rubbing his shoulder in pain. He had no time to stop himself in his stride and had hurt himself against the door frame.

"Lawrence!" Ludwig exclaimed, getting ready to give his younger brother a hug but Larry stepped forward first, pointing to the controls with his scepter.

"Take off! Now!" He ordered, to which the elder brother quickly did after being momentarily surprised by the sudden action. However, once the autopilot for Castle Koopa engaged and the airship took off towards it, Larry slumped against the wall and fell down against, panting and letting go of his weapon.

Ludwig stared at him for a brief moment, before noting something. "Lawrence! You're bleeding!"

Larry looked down at his body and it was there he just noticed that his left leg was bleeding profusely. Scrapes up and down it; must have been from when he fell over. He growled to himself, at himself and at how painful it suddenly was. He was about to get up when Ludwig pressed a hand against his shoulder.

"Stay there," He commanded. "I'll get first aid."

Larry shook his head. "I'll get it, I'll-"

But Ludwig had relented and soon he was gone. Larry just resigned himself and slumped down again, staring at his injury. He was strangely stoic through all this, even though it hurt like hell. He just didn't seem to notice or care.

The elder Koopaling returned with some bandages and a sponge. "Sorry," He apologised. "We don't have anything better on this."

Larry shook his head. "It's fine," He replied, trailing off on his speech for a few moments. When Ludwig propped his leg up and began to clean it, the small Koopaling suddenly burst into tears, which made Ludwig jump back.

"Sorry! Sorry!" He exclaimed.

"N-no!" Larry choked, waving him back towards him. "It's not that.. it's.."

Ludwig took great care with his brother, cleaning up the blood from his leg. "Larry.." He said, half-serious and half-caring. He didn't need Larry to have a nervous breakdown right now, especially since they've just seemingly aborted the mission. "Lawrence.. what happened?"

Larry looked up at his oldest brother, tears streaming down his face. The guilt coming to the fray, all becoming overwhelming to him now. "I.. I.." He tried to say, but Ludwig's stare was giving him cold feet. But he had to. It was crucial. "I.. I killed t-two Toads."

He paused. ".. What?" Ludwig asked quietly, not expecting that at all. He didn't react. He remained still, looking at his brother. There had to be more.

"They.. they attacked me. They were.. I don't know.. I-I think they were.. it was like when King Dad was turned all dark.."

Putting the bloody sponge down, Ludwig began to wrap up his leg, still silent. Still thinking.

And then he spoke. "And you think that it was the same..?"

Larry paused, but finally, he nodded. "Y-yeah.. I think so. But still.. I can't believe I-"

Ludwig looked up. "You defended yourself. There was nothing you could do. Don't feel guilty over it. Please." He said. "So why did you say we had to leave the city so soon?"

"Because.. I heard a voice. It said that .. we should worry about the family. It meant everyone else back home. Junior and Wendy are in trouble.. and so are everyone else. I'm sorry Ludwig.. when I heard it I was worried that you were in danger."

"I'm fine now." Ludwig said, which gave Larry the tiniest smile. But it still didn't ease his tension and anxiety.

"That voice though.. and it was the same kind of darkness.. I think it wasn't lying. Trust me."

"I trust you, Lawrence. So far you haven't been wrong."

And conveniently, Ludwig was finished with his first aid. "Not as good as a Magikoopa," He said somewhat sheepishly, picking up the bloody sponge and the rest of the bandages. "But hopefully it should do."

Larry sighed, relieved that the pain was starting to go down, even if not a lot. "Thanks Kooky." He said, giving his elder brother a smile. Ludwig couldn't help but grin back, even though his temper was somewhat flared by that horrid nickname.

"Don't call me that." He said jokingly, before disappearing to dispose of the sponge. Larry anchored himself against the wall, sighing and folding his arms. Suddenly, he felt tired again. The adrenaline in his system was wearing out and he was feeling very sleepy. It wasn't long before the gentle whirring of the airship blades outside and the rocking motion of the ship sent him into a deep slumber, right against the wall of the cockpit.


	3. A Royal Greeting

A/N: I apologise in advance for the mangling of the canon. Thank you for reading also! :)

**A Royal Greeting**

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><p>When Larry woke up a few hours later.. or maybe it was an hour and it just felt like that, he was still there. He knew, because the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the wall which was made up of the many rows of wooden planks that adorned it. That, and it was way too cold to even be his room. And then the realisation came once again as he comprehended that strange distant whirring sound in the back of his head. Which was the airship.<p>

Sleepily, he gave a yawn and pulled himself up. He wasn't in the cockpit. He was in the main resting room, just below deck. A blanket had been placed over him, which he realised existed when he pulled it aside and it ruffled onto the floor.

He still felt tired. Or at least feeling heavy and crummy.

The memories of what had happened before rolled off his mind slowly. As soon as it got to the less savory parts though, he gave an audible shudder. He remembered Ludwig assuring him that he wasn't a murderer. But it still shook him to the core. The many times he was told and trained to 'bring the pain' (paraphrased from Bowser himself) to the Mario Brothers and whoever else allied themselves with them, the many times he had been able to hit them and seemingly defeat them.. even though they always came back. Somehow. Somehow, they always just came running back into the room even after he had fired magic at them and stomped on them more times than he cared to do.

And they kept coming back.

But that time was different. Those things.. Toads.. they didn't come back. He had finished them off for good.

Larry gave a small whine as he recounted it endlessly in his mind, hugging himself with his arms. It was bothering him more than he'd like it to. Ludwig was right - he was only acting in self-defense and it wasn't his fault.

But his morals asked him to defend himself against the enemy, not civilians.

But then he realised.. there was no time for his self-guilt. Ludwig had given him that look and he realised, he had to be a leader. For all of them. That was why they pulled out early from the city in the first place.

As he got up, the jolt of pain from his leg shot up his body. Larry grimaced; well, it was a reminder of to watch where he was going. Still feeling groggy, the small Koopaling made his way up to the cockpit, opening the door gingerly.

As expected, his brother was at the helm - figures that he would be there. There didn't seem to be much to do. The squeaking of the door caught his attention. "Hey Lawrence," Ludwig smiled briefly. "How are you feeling?"

Larry gave an audible sigh and wandered over to the controls. "Best I can be," He wasn't in the mood to talk about himself, or his feelings. "How far are we?"

"Nearly there," Ludwig replied - Larry looked out the window. Indeed, they were in the Darklands. "Won't be too long."

The leader nodded and continued looking out the window. Even with the familiar view, he still was anxious in the pits of his stomach. "Have you established contact with the others?" He asked.

The eldest shook his head. "I've been unable to." He signaled to the communication boards - new technology that Iggy had installed into the airships which displayed quick and seamless updates on the airships in their areas. Currently with only three airships registered, the ones that they were using at the moment, the names of them were shown in a metallic red.

**'BOWKMR' - OUT OF RANGE'**

That was the ship that Roy and Morton Jr were piloting. The Beanbean Kingdom wasn't that far away.. Larry frowned at this, which Ludwig caught on immediately. "Maybe Iggy forgot to extend the range." He shrugged, pointing to the next entry.

**'BOWKLI' - HOME'**

Larry frowned at this. Iggy and Lemmy were home? They were supposed to be at Sarasaland. Did something happen there too?

"It changed a few hours ago," Ludwig explained. "Just after I put you to bed. I tried to contact them, but I got nothing."

"Ugh," Larry groaned, running a hand down his face. "Well.. I guess we can just hope that they're okay."

Ludwig folded his arms and said nothing, turning back to the window.

"Perhaps it is the weather.. ?"

"Huh?"

"The weather," He said again. "It could be scrambling the signal?"

Larry shook his head. "Something is up - if it was scrambling the signal, there wouldn't even be a readout."

Ludwig began to speak, but he bit his tongue, not wanting to argue. ".. Yeah, perhaps you're right." He murmured. He wished that he wasn't though.

Something was wrong when they touched down at the air pad. Castle Koopa was a hive of activity, for friend and foe. Those who worked under Bowser usually had jobs to do. There were Troopas who worked at the airport side of the castle. There were none.

An audible blip from the main console of the airship confirmed that 'BOWKLL' was home. But it didn't feel like home. It was quiet.

Ludwig noticed this immediately when they disembarked from the deck onto the upper platforms that were reserved for them, Larry following slowly. He said nothing as he looked around, chilled to the bone at how quiet the whole place was. Gosh damn it Lawrence, why are you always right?

He pulled out his scepter.

"Keep an eye out." He said, to which Larry nodded immediately.

"Got your back." He replied.

Ludwig shivered as they walked cautiously down the flight of stairs towards the main area of the castle - it had never been this quiet in all of his life. Never ever. There was always the activities of the troop running around, the distant wails of training.. or their siblings fighting over whatever. Now all they had to accompany each other was the ambient sounds of lava that boiled and resonated beneath them. Of course, there was nothing to fear from the lava - they were virtually invulnerable to them.

Even if it was the hottest day that the Darklands had been going through, Ludwig felt nothing but his body tingle with cold.

Bad things went through his mind. Junior and Wendy.. Iggy and Lemmy.. were they okay? If whatever Larry had gone through had happened to them.. no, he wouldn't let it be. That would be an affront and a failure to his duties.

"Hey, look sharp." Larry said, throwing him out of his thoughts - he was trailing behind him and backing up as well, watching their backs. Ludwig frowned. Just because you're the leader doesn't mean I can't look out for my family.

Larry had no idea what he thought. His duty was superficial.

The main entrance hall is quiet too. The two brothers looked upon the grandiose way it looked. It always looked like that. It seemed like there were no signs of any fight or scuffle here. As they began to walk to the middle of it, Larry let out a choked gasp.

"Huh?!" Ludwig whipped around and saw his brother looking suddenly pale, shivering, looking around with a nervous tic. "Lawrence, are you okay? What happened?!"

"I.. I.." Larry tried to get the words out of his mouth, but it was hard to. His throat was all dry. This was what it felt like back in the city. The anxiousness, the mounting and overwhelming desire of something that was going to get him. He forgot about everything, except that his connection to where he was starting to slowly waver and lose. He felt like he was going to pass out. But he was stuck there.

Ludwig grabbed his brother by the shoulder. "Lawrence!" He snapped quickly and harshly. "Stay with me! What happened?! What is it?!"

Larry looked up at him, his small innocent blue eyes shivering at him, his small frame being unable to stay still. "It.. it's here.."

"What?" Ludwig frowned. "What is? What? The darkness?!"

The small Koopaling nodded, tears welling up in his eyes. "It.. it.. I can't.." He stuttered, looking in a particular direction of the castle. Ludwig followed his gaze for a moment, before turning back. _Not now,_ he thought. _Don't. Not now, Lawrence._

"Lawrence," He said sternly, but that had no effect. "Larry!"

Larry snapped to attention, but he was looking worse and worse by the minute.

"Don't you do this to me!" He said, angry and worried at the same time. He had never seen him like this before and wasn't really sure on how to do with it. "Don't you freak out on me please! You need to step up! Come on, we got to find where the others are!"

Suddenly, Larry yelled. "I can't!" He wrapped his arms around his body and began to hyperventilate. "It's here! It's here and I can't go on! I.. I can't!"

Ludwig growled, both hands on his brothers shoulders now. "Our family is counting on us! Even if I have to drag you, we have to find them! We can't get cold feet Lawrence! Not now!"

But try as he might, Larry couldn't move himself any further. He just shivered and looked like he was going to pass out. The anxiety was mounting something fierce. He never felt like this before. He had no idea how to combat it. He had just felt it back in the city.

"Larry.. I'm scared too." Ludwig said, which caught Larry's attention. "But we got to do this. We don't have time for this."

A guttural noise caught their attention and the eldest Koopaling turned around almost immediately. "What the-?!" He yelled, and Larry's eyes widened when he saw what the source of the noise was.

"It's.. it's them!" He yelled, pointing at them.

But they weren't Toads though - these were their own soldiers. Koopa Troopas. Two of them. Dark as their own shadows. Their eyes now just red pigments staring down at them. They had their talons raised and let out an awful, terrible roar that resonated in their ears. They didn't sound like their normal selves.

Ludwig held his scepter defensively, trying to take in what he was seeing at the moment. Larry let out a scared whimper from behind him - the second Troopa was advancing on him. Ludwig looked at his scared brother for a second.

This isn't the Lawrence C. Koopa I know, he thought to himself. Something must be affecting him.

"Fight them, Lawrence!" He yelled, as he readed to fire some magic. "Do what you did last time! Defend yourself!"

Even then, Ludwig was having reservations about attacking this.. this being. He knew this Troopa, he was certainly recognizable from the rounds that he did on inside castle duty. He didn't want to do this to him.

But when the dark talons were raised, Ludwig had to. He fired off an explosive shot of magic, which connected and engulfed the dark matter in an explosion of fire and smoke. It didn't even have time to register the pain. When the smoke cleared, it was gone. He whipped around quickly, seeing that Larry had his scepter pointed out, trying to conjure a spell. But he was shaking too much. He couldn't concentrate.

Ludwig growled and pulled Larry back, putting a protective arm around him. "Get back!" He yelled, scepter pointed at him before another fireball shot out. It knocked the Troopa to the ground, where it disintegrated into nothing.

The castle hall fell silent again save for the two brothers who were panting from their sudden attack. Ludwig lowered his weapon and looked down to his brother.

"You okay, Lawrence?"

Larry didn't reply - he just stayed quiet, shaking in the grasp of his brother before he pulled out free, perhaps a bit too harshly. Ludwig couldn't help but sympathise. He wished there was more he could do though.

"I can't believe I couldn't.." He murmured finally - the anxiety was gone, but the awful feeling was still in his stomach. Before, he was suppressing his urge to cry but now he wanted to - but the tears didn't come. He just felt empty and cold. But he wasn't incapacitated.

"Do not blame yourself." Ludwig replied. Larry looked up with a questioning gaze. "You were right. Something is going on here."

Larry sighed. "But how come it affects me? It didn't affect you.."

Ludwig shook his head. "I don't know.. but it wasn't your fault. I'm sorry if I was harsh.. I had no idea."

"It's.. it's fine. I blame myself more than anything."

"Why?"

"Because," Larry growled to himself. "I have to take care of everyone and lead them. I can't fall to pieces like that.." He clutched his stomach, scepter still in his hand. It hurt now.

Ludwig shook his head and began to reply when they heard a large thump from above them. Both gazes looked up to the stony ceiling of the castle hall - there was a second floor above them after all, and the two brothers looked at each with the same idea. With a single word not being spoken between them, they left the hall and entered the main staircase. The second hall was the main living area for the Koopalings to live in. _If anything had been messing around in their living areas though,_ Ludwig thought bitterly to himself, _there would be hell to pay._

Unlike downstairs, there had been definitely signs of activity here.

"Hey!" He yelled, his voice echoing down the hall. "Anything here?!"

No answer. The brothers exchanged a glance at each other before raising their weapons and making their way down. The doors were all closed and showed no signs of forced entry, yet the decorations that lined the place were in shambles. The torches were unlit (which Ludwig egregiously relit to help their vision), paintings were hanging off the wall, the regal carpet scuffled.. what the hell happened here?

As they came the t-junction of the second floor hallway, one left and one right, Larry opted to head for the right. He signalled Ludwig to the left and together, the two would do a quick peek around the corner to see if anyone or anything was there. However, the plan immediately came to a halt when Ludwig heard a childish voice yelling and some activity from behind him.

"GOTCHA!"

"OW! WHAT THE-?!"

Ludwig turned around, scepter at the ready until he saw the scene.

"God damn it!" Larry yelled irritably, clutching his head in pain. Ludwig ran to his brother's aid.

"Lemmy!" He exclaimed. "Get off him! He's not one of them!"

If the situation hadn't been too serious, Ludwig would have found the whole scene funny - Lemmy was standing on top of his younger brother like some sort of action hero posing after the kill, scepter pointed at the ready. However, when he looked up at Ludwig and saw that he had in fact attacked the real Larry, he immediately got off him.

"Oh Larry!" He said frantically, helping him up as best he could. "I'm so sorry! I thought you were one of those things!"

Larry groaned and sat up on the floor, rubbing the left side of his head with a sheepish Lemmy standing between them. "Ugh.. it's fine Lem." He muttered.

"I'm glad you guys are okay, though!" Lemmy chirped happily, before bouncing back to retrieve his ball, which had been waiting around the corner. He soon rolled into frame, a picture-esque pose that was familiar and as such, gave the two brothers a sense of relief.

"Me an' Iggy came back from Sarasaland early because the Princess there was missing!" He explained, but Ludwig suddenly interrupted him.

"Wait, the Princess there is gone?!" He asked, and Larry was surprised also. This was.. unheard of.

Lemmy nodded. "Yeah! Me an' Iggy thought that was strange too. They blamed us for it, but then the whole of the land started getting overrun by these dark things and we decided to get out of there because we couldn't fight them all." He gave a sigh. "We got back, everyone was gone including Wendy and Junior. We were attacked by more of the dark things.. they looked like our Troopas though!"

"Yeah," Larry said. "We were attacked by a couple in the main hall."

"We fought them and then we came upstairs - Iggy said he wanted to get some things from his lab - and told me to wait out here. You know how he is with other people in his lab," Ludwig left out the fact that he had been in there on several occasions, for illegal reasons. "There were more in the hallway here and then I heard some yelling downstairs and I heard Ludwig yell and I thought it was an imposter trying to get me, so I hid."

Ludwig had his arms folded. "Hm, interesting." He said. "So you saw the same as what Lawrence saw in Toad City." Lemmy looked to Larry, who simply nodded a confirmation.

"Roy and Morton are still at the Beanbean Kingdom, we can assume." Larry replied. "We haven't seen them here."

Lemmy shook his head. "Neither have we."

Ludwig took a glance towards Iggy's room. "How long has Ignatius been gone?"

"Only for a couple of minutes."

They exchanged glances at each other. "Perhaps we should check on him.. you know, just in case."

Lemmy's eyes widened. "But.. he said we aren't allowed in there!" He rolled anxiously on his circus ball. Larry rolled his eyes and got to his feet.

"Given the circumstances Lemmington, I think he won't mind."

The small Koopaling watched as Ludwig walked over nonchalantly to Iggy's room and opened the door, walking inside without a care in the world. He looked at Larry, a questioning gaze of whether he was going to follow in after him. Larry gave the look of 'Of course' back and followed after Ludwig. Faced with no choice, Lemmy rolled in after them.

It wasn't really anything different to Ludwig, but to Larry and Lemmy, Iggy's room was like discovering a new land. It was bright, clean, sterlized like a hospital. It had all the workings of a Castle Koopa room, but it had that signature flair of eccentricity that Ignatius was always known for. However, unlike their rooms, there was another door next to his bed that presumably led down to his lab.

Lemmy followed after Larry down the stairs, his ball bouncing all the way down at an increasing speed which made Larry a little nervous. But eventually they joined Ludwig in the lab and were amazed at how different it looked compared to anything else they'd seen. White tiles, white wallpaper, computers and little pieces of technology all around. Files scattered, experiments that he had worked on all sitting around in the open. Larry wrinkled his snout.

"Smells funny in here." He observed. Ludwig gave a snort.

"Yeah, well that's Ignatius for you."

Larry proceeded to put his fingers into his mouth and blow a whistle. "Yo, Iggs!" He shouted - the lab was a pretty big place after all. "You here?!"

When there was no reply, it made their stomachs drop. Where was he? Ludwig worriedly paced to the back end of the lab while Larry and Lemmy looked around, but they came up short.

"Where do you think he went?" Lemmy asked, but all the two could do was shrug. "He wouldn't just disappear like that.." He gave a small gasp. "Do you think .. ?!"

"No, he couldn't have." Ludwig replied, going over to a counter and scanning the papers there. "He's too smart for that." Something caught his eye - some reports dated a week ago. Frowning, he picked it up and began to look over it. Larry and Lemmy came over and looked over his shoulders.

"What's that?" Larry asked, but he didn't reply - he just kept scanning. Eventually his expression changed.

Lemmy tilted his head. "What's up, Luddy?"

".. Ignatius knew about this."


	4. Unwanted Professionals

A/N: Again, thank you guys for reading and for the kind words! I really appreciate it all. I also don't mind CC as long as it's worded politely, of course. So feel free to say anything that might be bothering you - after all, I want to improve my writing. Enjoy this chapter!

**Unwanted Professionals**

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><p>When the general realisation of what Ludwig had said had processed in their minds, Larry immediately shook his head. "That doesn't mean anything," He said with a casual tone of voice. "You know how he is; he wouldn't expect us to understand what was going on nor would he see fit to run around telling us about this."<p>

Ludwig however, just gave a small laugh. "Lawrence, that theory lacks two feet to stand on because you know how he is when he manages a breakthrough in his experiments, big or small - you can hear him cackling with delight all the way from here to the border."

"I don't hear anything.."

"That's because you're too busy listening to music, Larry!" Lemmy said, chuckling when his younger brother tilted his head in confusion and then began to realise. "We can hear that music through your headphones just as loud as Iggy's laughing."

Larry uneasily scratched the side of his head and gave a small grunt, irritated that he was being shot down. He folded his arms and looked away towards the exit.

"Aw, come on! Don't be like that! We're just having fun with you!" Lemmy rolled over to the mohawked Koopaling and teasingly hugged his head. "Usually, I'd be too busy practicing my tricks to notice what is going on, but considering I'm in his room most of the time.."

As Larry gave a small 'harrumph' as a reply, Ludwig was still scrutinising the files that had been laid out before him. Surprisingly, the wording was as vague as anyone else reporting on the same thing would say. Ignatius' writings were delicate, minute and accurate to the last detail. But the wordings spoke opposite of what it was. He had a week to compile his findings. He wrote observations, investigated and made it all into a fully fledged report.

But yet, it was just vague. Vague and dull.

An entry was dated five days ago.

**'Out in the field, discovered dark matter around the volcanic regions. Another large matter near the river. Feelings of nervousness and anxiety readily apparent, same feelings as encounter two days prior.'**

This entry stood out in particular because it was circled roughly, with a footnote.

**'Inform Kamek of findings - take precautions'**

Ludwig frowned and without moving an inch, turned his head towards his brothers. "Lemmy, did Iggy ever mention anything about the darkness or anything along those lines when you were travelling to Sarasaland?"

"Nope." Lemmy simply replied, now interested in now what Ludwig was doing - Larry was still standing by himself.

"Lawrence?"

He gave a small 'hmph' to signal that he was listening.

"Did Iggy or Kamek ever mention anything about this?"

Larry turned around, still looking irritated. "If they did, I would have told you guys, wouldn't I?" He sounded positively offended by the question. Ludwig just shook his head and went back to the reports.

"I'm just saying Lawrence, that it is strange that Iggy wrote something so vague and not very detailed and then ran off to tell Kamek. And then none of us were told about it until yesterday."

Larry just blinked at this and gave an aside glance to Lemmy. "You wouldn't think that.."

Ludwig's eyes darted to his brother. "No, I wouldn't. But you know how hard it was last time.. I can understand why this was kept under wraps, so to speak," He gave a small sigh and stood up straight.

"Yeah well, it was very bad timing to keep us in the dark."

"I agree," Ludwig said. "I'm not too happy about it myself.. and now that everyone is gone and the rest of us have gone feral.."

Lemmy rolled over to in between his two brothers. "We have to find the others, I think! What if they're in danger!?"

"Yeah, Lem's right," Larry said. "We got to find the others and figure out our next plan - where did King Bowser go? Maybe we can start there?"

Ludwig closed his eyes and tried to remember the letter that had been left behind. It was tough to recall, considering so much that had happened over the past day that the little things were starting to slip off his mind.

"He went to the Mushroom Kingdom."

"Of course," Larry rolled his eyes. "Why would he go there though?"

"To talk to Peach, of course.."

Ludwig found it oddly amusing how many times they had gone through with the plans to kidnap her and had become acquainted with her so much that the royalties had gone through the window a long time ago - now it was just a casual, first name basis.

"After all, it started there.."

Larry scratched the side of his face. "Makes sense," He conceded. "First though, I think we should search the castle for Iggs and the others. Wendy and Junior might still be here as well, you know."

Ludwig and Lemmy nodded. "I agree," Ludwig replied. "Power in numbers, after all. We should contact Roy and Morton and see if we can get them back too."

"I can do it!" Lemmy volunteered, which earned an odd look from both brothers. He noticed this and folded his arms irritably. "I know how to do that! Iggy taught me when he finished setting everything up!"

"It's not that!" Ludwig hastily said, waving his hands frantically - he swore he saw Larry almost sweat in fear. An angry Lemmy was a rare sight that they dare not see. "It's just that we tried to contact them a while ago in the air and we couldn't get a clear signal."

"Iggy told me that he only had time to boost the signal at Castle Koopa before this whole thing happened," He then gave a sheepish grin and scratched the back of his head. "Well, no he didn't tell me in particular - I overheard him say it to King Bowser."

Larry huffed. "The miracle of newly made inventions." He replied sarcastically.

"I'm not too sure about us splitting up," Ludwig countered. "You know what it is like in books and on tv shows - everyone splits up and then everything that can go bad will go bad."

The small Koopaling however, was indignant. "I can take care of myself, Kooky! Besides, it will be faster and if I see Iggy along the way, even better!" He waved his own scepter around to show that he wasn't as defenseless as they thought he was. Ludwig gave a glance over to Larry for support, but he just gave a shrug.

"Just let him." He said simply. The eldest just sighed.

"Okay. You got your walkie-talkie?"

Lemmy pulled it out of his shell. "Right here, chief!"

"Keep in touch, then." Ludwig ordered, to which Lemmy gave a mock salute. "And be careful."

"You know me, Luddy!" He said cheerfully as he rolled over to the exit, using some sort of weird technique to bounce himself up it. The pair just stared at the empty space until Lemmy was out of earshot, and then Larry turned to Ludwig with a frown.

"Chief?!" Ludwig just shrugged.

"Sorry Lawrence, you just seemed too embroiled in your emotions and I had to say something."

Larry just growled. "I'm the leader, not you Ludwig."

"I know, I know," Ludwig put a palm to his face. "We don't need to argue right now Lawrence. We have to scour the castle and find the others. Lemmy is close by and he'll keep in touch if anything goes wrong." Although he wanted to say that he had averted a crisis, it felt like the crisis had already passed. Lawrence wasn't one for arguing or being generally irritated, except whenever someone beat him at video games, tennis or insulted his favourite kind of music or whenever he saw the Mario Brothers.

_Then again,_ he thought to himself, _it must be that anxiety that had gotten to him._

Iggy had written that he felt the same thing. It didn't seem to affect him and Lemmy hadn't said anything about himself - then again, good old Lemmy worried about entertaining everything and being generally happy. Something would have to really shake him to the core for him to admit anything bad about himself.

They found themselves in the hallway again. Ludwig pulled out his walkie-talkie.

"Lem, all good?"

A moment of pause, and the loud crackling of static before Lemmy replied.

"Yep! Just heading inside the airship hangar now! Will call back when I've called Roy and Morton!"

"Okay."

The brothers continued with their search in silence, except for a few passing comments when they checked Wendy's room ("Ugh, I'm gonna be sick.." "How could she spray that vile scent that they call perfume on herself?!"). Junior wasn't in his room and neither was anyone else. It was just too quiet. They hadn't even been attacked yet. It gave them the shivers.

Just as they had finished combing the second floor and was ready to head upstairs to King Bowser's floor, the air was filled with more crackling which made Larry jump.

"What is it, Lemmy?" Ludwig asked.

"Uh.. guys.. something strange is happening.."

Larry's eyes widened and he walked over to listen closely.

"Yes?"

"Uh.. I checked the control panel and it said that Roy and Morton are here. I'm actually looking out the window now and I can see their airship.."

They looked at each other, as if asking each other if they had heard anything. Of course they hadn't.

Lemmy didn't sound scared - just perplexed. "Have you guys seen them anywhere in the castle?"

They strained themselves to listen for any activity in the castle - the main staircase was huge and prone to echoing, even from other rooms. But they didn't hear anything. Dead silence.

"No.."

"Okay, where are you guys now? I'll meet up back with you."

"We're at the main staircase, about to head up to the third floor."

".. Yeah, I'll meet you and Larry there.. wait.."

There was a pause.. and then from the talkie came the same growl that they had heard before. No.. please no.. "Lemmy!" Ludwig shouted.

"I'm fine!" Lemmy called out, even though he sounded more panicked now. "I'm fine! I'll meet you guys there-"

Suddenly, the talkie cut out. A mass of white noise filled the whole room, even though Ludwig was pressing the button down as hard as his thumb would let him.

"Lem! Lemmy!" He shouted, but the crackling noise still prevailed. Their talkie was completely dead.

Larry let out a shuddering breath before taking off into a run down the staircase, deciding to leap over the railing to the other side. "We gotta get Lemmy!" He shouted as he vaulted over, letting out a small hiss as he landed on his bad leg, forgetting he even had a bad leg now. Ludwig was right behind him.

Even without the Troopas and Magikoopas around to block their path, it still felt like an enternity before they reached the warehouse. It was where they kept old prototypes of airships or ones that had been broken down by their enemies. Inside, up an elevated office situated far above the ground was the control room where Iggy had installed the panels. The warehouse clanged with the sounds of them running on the metal grating. The lack of noise was telling and the two brothers had their fears confirmed when they burst into the office ready to dish out some pain, but found an empty room.

Larry panted and looked around frantically. "Lemmy!" He called out, even going so far as to open the window next to them. "Lemmy!" His voice rang out far across the hangar, but nothing responded to it. He flinched when Ludwig put a hand on his shoulder, a somber look on his face.

"No.. no he can't be.." Larry choked, before turning around.

Ludwig shook his head. "I don't want to think so.." He said - he didn't want to think what had happened actually happened. Of course.. it couldn't. The Koopalings were resilient as hell. They survived a lot of things. But between the two of them, they couldn't help but let the morbid thoughts seep into their minds.

Larry sighed and tried not to cry - he didn't want to break down again. "We.. we gotta keep going, don't we?" He asked.

"I believe so, Lawrence. We have our lead," Ludwig looked out to the hangar. "The Mushroom Kingdom. King Bowser was going there. It's the only place we can go to."

I'm sorry, Lemmy. I failed you.

It felt like a really bad nightmare.

Larry thought that if he pinched himself, he would wake up from this horrible dream he had been going through. In the real world, he was just resting on the couch, fallen asleep listening to some awesome electronic music and that when we snapped awake he would be called down to dinner.

But no. Lemmy, Iggy, Roy, Morton, Junior, Wendy, Bowser, their entire legion...

Gone.

It was just them.

The whole thing was just starting to sink in. Ludwig and Larry seemed to the only two bastions of hope for the Koopa Troop.

"We should gather supplies - food and water and other things." Ludwig suggested. "If this turns out to be easy as it has been so far, we will need to be prepared."

Larry just nodded at this and they began to make their way out towards the lower floors, where the servants usually handled the kitchen work. Sometimes, the Koopalings would take turns cooking dinner - it was insisted upon by Bowser and it was usually put to good use. Spending hours, almost days in a castle by yourself required some survival skills after all.

The pair began to descend downwards at the main staircase, when they heard a loud crash behind them, startling them out of their shells. "Sounded like it came from the entrance hall!" Larry said. They had no choice.

Scepters out.

Deal with the enemies before doing anything else. Even knowing that they could suffer the same fate as their brothers and allies.

As they neared the entrance hall, a voice rang out that reverberated throughout the castle.

"BOWSER!" It shouted. "Get out here now! We're here for the Princess!"

The two Koopalings looked at each other. That voice was all too familiar. Larry scowled.

"Really..?" He hissed. "Him too?!"

Ludwig shrugged. "Let's just deal with this."

"Are you sure about that?!"

Suddenly, the doors in front of them flew open, startling the pair again and made them jump back, weapons poised and ready. The figure standing at the open doors noticed them and pointed a huge, gloved finger at them.

"Ey! You! Koopalings!" He shouted, before balling his hands and standing defiant, not scared of them. "Get out of the way! We're looking for the Princess!"

Footsteps pattered behind him frantically. "M-Mario! Hold on!"

Mario's eyes flicked to over his shoulder, where his lanky green brother came into view now, panting heavily. "Come on, we've got to defeat these two!" He said to him and faced back towards them. However, unlike his brother, Luigi just stood simply by and scanned his surroundings. Of course he had been here a million times over.. but something was definitely wrong. He had noticed it when they were running across the moat towards the entrance hall.

And now, here they were. But he didn't want to fight them.

"Mario.."

"What, Luigi?!"

"Something is not right here.."

Larry spoke up. "Yeah!" He waved his scepter, glowing with the awesome power and energy that it threatened to discharge. "So if you know what is good for you, Mario Brothers, you will leave now!"

"Not until we get Peach back and give Bowser what he deserves! This is getting old!" Mario shouted back.

"Einstein!" Larry retorted back. "The King isn't here and niether Peach, so get lost will ya?!"

"And why should we believe you?!"

Suddenly, Mario felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Luigi, who was looking at him with a strange look.

"What?!" He snapped this time, but the green capped plumber seemed unfazed by his attitude. Instead, he looked up at the two battered, beaten, tired looking Koopalings standing before them and said the words that he thought he would never ever say in his life.

"Bro.. they're telling the truth."


	5. Dramatic Irony

A/N: Nothing much to say here! Just enjoy!

**Dramatic Irony**

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><p>"Open dis door!"<p>

**Thump, thump!**

"When I get dis door open, I'm gonna give you guys whats for!"

**Thump, thump!**

Lemmy gave a small groan as he tried to open his eyes. They felt way too heavy. And that thumping noise... if it could stop for about a few minutes. Please?

"Just wait until I get my hands on you-!"

"Shut up, Roy!" A female voice suddenly called out. The wavering silhouette of someone standing in front of Lemmy began to come into focus. He looked upwards. "Do you want to draw attention to them?!"

Roy gave a guttural growl, claws piercing against the door, feeling irritated and indignant at being interrupted. "Yeah, I want to get their attention... so I can beat da living snot out of them!"

Lemmy blinked a few times and began to realise where he was at - he was in a small room. Looking to be bright and garish. A few torches with roaring fires littered all about the room (one of them seemed to be ripped out from the wall and was resting on the ground looking like it been bent and roughhoused beyond belief) and nothing in the room but a few shelves. The door was their only way out, but even then it seemed to be impenetrable.

And then he realised that everyone else was here too! Roy was at the door, fists pounding against it with all his might, Wendy standing a small distance from him with her arms folded. Iggy was huddled in the corner opposite him, rocking back and forth, Morton was pacing up and down at the unoccupied end of the room and chattering mindlessly to himself and Junior was sitting on one of the shelves, unusually quiet.

Lemmy let out a small noise as he pulled himself up.

"Lemmy's awake!"

Stupidly, he turned slowly towards the source of the voice but it didn't take long for Iggy to close the distance and embroil his older brother in a relieved hug.

"Mfff mmm!" Lemmy tried to say, although he was thankful that everyone seemed to be okay. Eventually he let go. "What happened? You guys okay?"

Roy spoke up, his voice booming throughout the room. "No Lem, we're not okay!" He exclaimed angrily, that strange accent of his coming to the fray now. "We are trapped inside dis room for no reason! And no one will help me get it open!"

"That's because we can't!" Wendy suddenly interjected. "We have tried for hours - give it a rest Roy!" She gave an indignant huff and folded her arms, muttering something about how a princess shouldn't be treated or something like that. Lemmy really didn't strain his ears.

Iggy gave a sort of happy cry. "Still, we're glad that you're okay! You just appeared in the corner here, out cold! We thought something had happened to you!"

"We.. we thought something had happened to _YOU_!" Lemmy said in return, the memories of Castle Koopa now coming down fresh on his mind. "We looked for you everywhere... Ludwig, Larry and I did anyway."

Even thought his default state was something close to... what was the word? Eccentric? Lemmy could see that Iggy was especially wrought with worry. He was twitching quite a bit.

"I-I'm sorry Lemmy!" He explained. "I went down to the lab to collect some papers and then I got ambushed! D-didn't you hear anything?!"

Lemmy shook his head.

"W-what about Ludwig and Larry?! Are they okay?!"

Everyone had turned to Lemmy at that question. He just answered truthfully as best he could though.

"Yeah... they're fine. They were in the castle last time I saw them and they're not here..."

"Oh... I see."

Silence fell over the group - Roy had stopped his futile attempts at busting his way out of there using brute force and was just sitting down, arms folded and mumbling irritably about how no one would help him and they all give up too easily. Iggy noticed this.

"Tried to tell him ages ago that it was probably enchanted with some lock or something," He said, settling down into a comfortable position; back against the wall, hugging his knees. "But you know him..."

"Yeah..."

Lemmy looked around the room - there was nothing really to behold in here... but he was skirting around a question on his mind that he didn't want to ask Iggy, because that would reveal that they had broken into his lab. It didn't take a genius to realise that emotions were running high and everyone was unpredictable. He could see it. No one was acting like they were in some way. Even himself.

"Lem..."

He looked over to his left. "Huh?"

"Something is bothering you," Iggy observed. "What happened?"

The response was total silence, which just fueled his persistence.

"Lemmy, what happened at the castle?"

The little koopaling sitting there just looked up to his brother and looked right into those eyes, staring back at him through those spectacles of his, and envisioned the many different ways that Iggy would react to him telling the truth. But then again, he had him in a corner and wouldn't let up for however long they would be stuck in here.

"Why... why didn't you say anything, Iggy?"

At that, Iggy went pale and turned away for a moment. Lemmy held his breath, wondering what the reaction was going to be. Anger? No.. instead he just started rocking back and forth, staring straight ahead with the eyes of someone who had just seen a terrible war. Or more like he caused one.

"I should have said something... I should have said something... I did say something..."

"Iggy... I'm sorry. We were worried about you and we got into your lab to see if you were there," Lemmy explained. "And then Ludwig found your notes..."

"Gah!" Iggy suddenly screeched, making everyone jump and then proceed to stare holes into him. "I'm sorry! Okay I found it and thought it was nothing, but then it started showing signs of being like it but... it wasn't! I thought it was nothing but I told Kamek anyway and he said he would keep an eye on it and then it started appearing and mutating and before I could do anything King Bowser disappears... ! I'm so sorry!"

Roy got to feet and growled. "Wait a sec.. you knew about dis whole thing?!" He began to lumber towards Iggy, who was now huddling up next to Lemmy in feear.

"Roy!" Morton had crossed the field quickly and gotten between the two. "Calm down man! Beating up Iggy isn't going to help anyone! It isn't his fault!"

"Like I believe that!" He roared, trying to get past his equally bulky brother. "If he had said something sooner we could have prepared for dis! Instead everything has gone down the tubes and it's his fault!"

Iggy just let out a little squeak.

"Don't put that on Iggy! No one could have seen this coming! Chill out man! I know you're angry - we all are - but we gotta keep it together!"

"Don't be the diplomatic here, Morton!" Roy growled again, now facing him. "You refused to fight them at da Beanbean Kingdom and now you just wanna sit here and let dem take us to da Chomps?! We gotta throw a few punches sometime or another!"

"For you, maybe! But this is different and you know that! You're just emotional man!"

"Don't talk to me about my emotions, kiddo!"

"Kiddo?! Listen here, you-"

"**_BE QUIET!_**"

Everyone in the room froze and looked up at the shelf; Junior was standing on top of it, fists clenched and looking like he was about to dish out a few punches himself while about to cry.

"Please!" He shouted. "Stop shouting! I can't take it anymore! Dad is out there, probably in trouble and you're all just arguing with each other! I... I know there is nothing we can do, but please... can we just be quiet!? For a few minutes, please?!"

In all their lives, no one had ever expected Bowser Junior to be so defiant and assertive like that. He was a sneaky and mean little Koopa for sure, but he never spoke up like that before. In the presence of his brothers, he was reclusive as a shy Chain Chomp. Roy shoved himself off Morton and returned to his position by the door, folding his arms and looking at a particular corner in the ceiling. Morton went over to Junior to check if he was alright. Iggy found himself clinging to Lemmy in absolute fear, until the situation had seemingly been defused and then he let go.

"Iggy... ?"

He looked up. Morton was now looking at him.

"... Yes?"

He was unusually subdued. "What... what did you mean by 'mutating'?"

Iggy restlessly ran his hands over each other. "They didn't destroy it," He said meekly. "They thought they did and it was exorcised from him properly... but they definitely didn't destroy it... now it is angry and it is mutating and gaining more power. If nothing is done about it... it was possess all of us and it will take over everything and everyone."

Lemmy's eyes widened. "Wait... you don't mean... ?"

"I'm sorry... I'm so so sorry... I should have said something..."

"Larry and Ludwig are out there." Lemmy said, realising the full extent of what was happening now.

Junior spoke up again. "Iggy? What do you mean? Who will.. take over?"

Iggy looked up. Not at Junior, but at everyone else. If he had doomed them all, then they at least had to know who they were dealing with. And it was some sort of irony for that they knew who they were fighting, except their two brothers out there who wouldn't have a clue.

And so, he confirmed everyone's fears.

"The Dark Star."

* * *

><p><em>All characters (C) Nintendo<em>


	6. Strange Bedfellows

A/N: Bit of a block here, which was why this took so long to write. Ugh. CC appreciated as always!

**Strange Bedfellows**

* * *

><p>Mario definitely had his fair share of life experiences under his belt, so to speak; he had gone through a staggering thirty one years of non-stop chaos. It either originated from his nemesis Bowser or just being plain ol' captured himself. He had traveled far and wide across many lands and through space and time. Not even a simple vacation was without its problems. But what Luigi was doing right now; his sympathising gaze towards two of their most hated enemies and the words that was pouring out of his mouth, made Mario give pause. Something that hadn't happened for a while.<p>

"Bro.. they're telling the truth."

He looked up at his taller brother, a puzzled expression crossing his face. Luigi had a meek personality, sure, but he had his own fair share of fighting. He lacked courage, but slowly grew confident. He began to see his enemies as one, those that would knock him flat the second he showed a tiny ounce of weakness. Even the face he gave to Mario back showed how hesitant he was in saying those words. But his heart was the true victor in the chaos.

Larry broke the unwavering silence between the two with his own surprise. "If you don't believe us..." He gestured towards the grand staircase. "Be our guests and roam the castle to your hearts desire."

"Lawrence!" Ludwig hissed. "What are you doing?!"

"We have nothing to hide! So please, look around! You won't find any guards or anything to stop you! But we can assure you that the precious princess isn't here!"

As his voice echoed in the grand chamber, Larry suddenly realised what he was saying. He dropped his guard and ran his hands over his face, before turning away to rest against the railing. He was going crazy. Delusional. This was turning out to be one stressful day.

Luigi raised an eyebrow at this and, noticing that Mario still hadn't budged an inch, stepped forward. "What happened here?" He asked simply.

Ludwig hesitated to answer at first. But then again... he was desperate. "Everyone is gone - our brothers, King Bowser. Our faithful Koopa Troop turned against us."

"Bowser is gone?" Mario exclaimed - the look he gave to Luigi had confirmed his fears a few hours before. This whole situation was definitely not Bowser's modus operandi. It was too elaborate, too different and it reeked of something even more foul.

"Yes," Ludwig answered. "Just yesterday, we woke up to find him gone. He had given us orders to head to different locations on a scouting mission and that he was out investigating himself. And now we are back and we have no idea what is going on. Just that our allies turned evil. Not in motivation... but appearance too. They ambushed us."

Luigi was scratching the side of his head nervously. "What... did they look like?"

"They were their normal selves, except they had red eyes. Completely dark in appearance and gave off these awful growls."

"Just like in Toad Town then..."

Mario had his arms folded and eyes closed, thinking over the previous few hours. Ludwig just blinked and looked between the two. "Is Toad Town... ?"

"Yes. The whole of the Mushroom Kingdom was quickly overrun by those things. Except they were Toads. Toads that we personally knew."

"Lawrence had a similiar experience at Toad City." Larry looked up, suddenly thrust into the spotlight. But he didn't really bother to answer, only give a small nod before turning to face them now.

"Initially, we thought that this was Bowser's doing," Luigi admitted with a sheepish tone. "And so did Mario here. But hearing it from you two now changes the implications."

"It doesn't seem like a Bowser-esque thing to do, now that I think about it." Mario said. "But still... we rushed to the castle and obviously, the Princess was missing and we thought that you were all behind it."

Ludwig made a brief tutting noise. "Logical, except Sarasaland is without a princess as well. And we certainly don't care about her."

Luigi's eyes widened. "Daisy is missing?!"

"That is what we were told."

The plumbers gave each worrying glances now - if these Koopalings were telling the truth, then maybe Peach wasn't as exclusive to this whole caper as they imagined. But why were they all missing? And where had they gone?

"Ludwig," Larry whispered. "They just said they were at Peach's castle.."

Ludwig blinked for a moment, wondering what Lawrence was talking about. But then the realisation suddenly hit him. "He was going over there."

"What?" Mario intoned, eyes narrowing at this. His gloved fists were back from relaxed to clenched and he was ready to pounce again. However that image hadn't scared the two Koopalings for the past few decades, so they really didn't pay it much attention. The only one worried at that moment seemed to be the timid brother at the back.

"Yeah," Larry replied bitterly. "What of it? We had no idea until just yesterday."

Luigi unfolded his arms. "If he left yesterday, then it is obvious he wasn't behind this," He said, more to Mario than the others. "But it is still strange - why would Bowser leave the castle and his entire army behind? That isn't how he operates."

"Hey, he's done plenty of things without them," Mario argued. "That is a pretty flimsy argument, Luigi."

"I... I guess so. But still..."

The red capped plumber turned around. "I don't know what has gotten into you Weegee," He said, Larry noting Luigi's cringe at that awful nickname with some amusement. "But you got to cut this out now. We can't trust anything they say."

"Even with all evidence to the contrary, Mario?! Use your head for a second! I thought you were going to cool off for a moment there..." He folded his arms. Ludwig and Larry, at this point, were just staring at the ensuing verbal fight among their two enemy's. It struck Ludwig in particular. They were still the most evil people that they had ever had the displeasure of meeting. Countless casualities had been handed to them by their jumping and stomping, their schemes falling to nothing but a pipe dream by their ingenuity. They were smart, athletic and perfect heroes in almost every way.

But were things falling apart now? Did they finally fail their duty to uphold the safety of the Mushroom Kingdom? Here they were, standing in the castle that if it was any other time their deaths would definitely (this time, most definitely) be assured, but they were arguing like brothers.

Like himself and Larry.. or Lemmy or Iggy or any one of his siblings for that matter. In a weird sort of way, Mario and Luigi were not monsters. They were just brothers, scared about the situation as he and Lawrence were. He tilted his head at the spectacle, getting annoyed at himself for feeling the slightest bit of sympathy for this demonic pair.

"Ludwig?" Larry's voice took him out his thoughts, and he turned to only find an expectant gaze in return. "Let's just go."

He gave a small nod of confirmation.

"Hey! Pipe sweeps!" Larry shouted, which ceased the arguing between Mario and Luigi. "We're going to the Mushroom Kingdom and we'd like it if you left our castle immediately!"

Mario's mustache ruffled at this, and he puffed his chest out indignantly, but Luigi silenced him with another calming hand to his shoulder.

"We'll come with you then!" He replied back, earning a surprised look from everyone present. "I believe you when you say there is nothing here. And there is no point tearing this place apart."

"Luigi..." Mario intoned again, but this time not looking up.

"Trust me, bro." Was all the reply was and surprisingly, it seemed to be enough to placate the red plumber down. He wrinkled his nose and looked to the Koopalings, still standing shocked at the whole situation, up around at the castle that he fought many great battles in and was sure as the sun would come up tomorrow that they were behind this somehow.

"... Fine," He murmured. "I'll play nice."

Luigi gave the faintest of smiles at this - it was nice when things were solved without violence. "We'll wait outside the doors."

Ludwig, in return, gave the smallest of nods at this. "Thank you." He murmured, unsure of how to think of the whole thing. It was a weird situation... and he couldn't believe that he had agreed to such a thing. But that was what it was - this was how crazy the world was now. Accepting help from the Mario Brothers. Teaming up with them. He never thought he'd see the day. Ludwig always thought that he'd compose the greatest musical piece of his time before he'd even have a conversation with Mario... but life seemed to be full of surprises.

* * *

><p>"Luigi..."<p>

"What, Mario?"

It was still day time in the Dark Lands (if there was ever such a thing) and the bridge croaked and groaned as the two plumbers walked across it.

"Why did ya seem awfully insistent of trusting them?" Mario questioned, scratching his chin, trailing behind his brother. "They could be lying."

Luigi gave a small sigh. "They might as well could be. But I saw the fear in their eyes. And you've never seen that from them before, have you Mario?"

Mario shrugged.

"Exactly; they've lost their family and their home. That is the face of someone who lost something dear to themselves. Like you and the Princess..."

Silence fell between the two for a moment. Luigi thought that he had sparked something bad within his brother again, but Mario was surprisingly docile. Instead, he just gave a shrug.

"Whatever you say, Luigi," He conceded. "I'm not too sure about them, but I'll trust you on this."

The green capped plumber gave a grin. "That's all I ever ask of you, bro."

* * *

><p>All characters (C) Nintendo<p> 


	7. Keep Your Enemies As Friends

A/N: More journey and witty banter between enemies! Enjoy!

**Keep Your Enemies As Friends **(Temporarily) ****

* * *

><p>The midday sun stood high and proud amongst the blue skies of the Mushroom Kingdom. It was a perfect, picturesque day, one that would definitely be a candidate for being on a postcard. It was paradise, for sure, and it was no wonder that it was a popular place to live. But never in the lives of an unlikely group walking in an unintentional file through the meadows, the Dark Lands merely a speck in the horizon, had they seen this land bare so much silence.<p>

No matter where you would look, there was always something happening. But everything was now gone. In its place? Dead, still silence. The towns that they passed were empty. The buildings were in perfect condition, same as they would have left it, but no one was to be seen. Not even literal ghosts were to be seen.

Ludwig was bringing up the rear, in front of him Lawrence and the Mario Brothers in front. In retrospect, it seemed like a very idiotic thing to do, keep your backs against your enemies. After all, what was that saying? 'Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer'. Ludwig found a certain truth in that, considering their track record with their enemies. Of course, old habits were hard to break and the many times they had done things their way they would come so close. So it would just be a matter of hoping that they would make one tiny mistake.

But they never did. How? The Koopaling scrutinized their backs with a small glare - if only they worked for them...

He unfolded his arms and gave a small sigh. That would never happen though. Those two idiots are too busy playing hero. He hated what they stood for. Just for once he'd like to see them fall flat on their behinds. Then again, that was precisely what was happening right now; they were failing to uphold their jobs as heroes. They had lost their precious Princess. If it wasn't for the fact that the exact same thing was happening to them, he would have taunted them endlessly until the end of days.

"Tired?" Luigi spoke up, second in line and turning his head to look at the Koopalings behind him. "We can rest up if you guys want...?"

Ludwig gave a small huff. "We're fine."

A small grunt of dismissal came from Mario, who suspected that they were anything but. After all, he and Luigi had walked, sprinted, jumped, stomped their way through the world and back for years while the Koopalings just fiddled with their gadgets and gizmos. It was logical that all that time using air ships to transport themselves around would eventually catch up to them.

Why was he doing this? This was probably one of the most outrageous ideas that he had ever decided to participate in. The patience that he had for them was slowly draining away second by second, as his thoughts about them lying came to confirm itself more and more as the day went on. But he didn't want to say anything because he knew he'd upset Luigi. And like it or not, Luigi was the brains of it all. His cowardly nature was overshadowed by his stunning intellect.

Ludwig looked concernedly at Larry, whom still looked to be in bad shape. Despite his insistence (and his razor sharp glare) that he was fine, Ludwig couldn't help but worry just a little bit. Even with his leg adequately healed, he was still sporting a noticeable limp. But no, he wouldn't say anything. After all, Lawrence was the leader, he was the favourite. But Ludwig was the big brother. And even if he was an evil little Koopaling by any means, he still gave a damn about his family. It annoyed him greatly that Lawrence's pride was overriding his sense of survival but he bit his tongue nonetheless.

Toad Town was noticeable from the hill they passed over - across the way was Peach's castle. Ludwig gave a shiver as he saw the entire spectacle - even from up here, he could see how desolate and barren the whole township looked. If he were to merely glance at it, it would look nothing more than a scenic view that he would pass over in his air ship. But on ground level, where his eyes could see from the perspective of one not in the air, it took on a whole remarkably different tone.

Larry let out a small huff at the sight. "Dang," He said. "You weren't kidding."

"Of course not," Mario replied, folding his arms. "No one is home. Nothing there."

Ludwig stood at the back, head tilted downwards in deep thought. "I still don't get why King Bowser would come here. You sure you two didn't notice anything?"

"Very sure," Luigi confirmed. "After all, anyone would know that he would be around here."

"It's just weird how he suddenly decided to come here, on foot, he didn't take his air ship..."

Larry nodded. "Yeah. He isn't very low-key, after all..." He sat on a rock and stretched out his leg - Ludwig scrutinized him for a quick moment before turning away.

"Eh, come on," Mario said, gesturing everyone forward. "Let's head down there and see if we can find anything or anyone."

"Alright, alright pipe cleaner," Larry muttered irritably, getting up. "Don't get your mustache in a tussle."

"Very mature..." Luigi murmured - the indignant Koopaling was about to speak up, but Ludwig quickly stopped him with nothing more than one of his own trademark glares.

Toad Town - the homely home of the Mario Brothers, situated next to the ever loved Princess Peach's castle located at the end of the main street. Main street, not surprisingly, was the busiest street of Toad Town. An adornment of stores and local businesses permeated the areas, with the outskirts of the town dedicated to residential areas. Luigi said it always reminded him of the old zydeco styles of New Orleans, minus the festivities. It was just a quaint little place.

It didn't feel so quaint when he passed an abandoned cable car, noting his stoic demeanor as he walked past the glossy reflection underneath the windows.

Larry didn't much like the feel of the place either; espionage missions entitled him to don a disguise and do a recon mission around Toad Town, and so he was pretty familiar with the ins and outs of the whole place. Coming here undisguised, in the view of his enemies with nothing around made him nothing short of paranoid.

"This is like something out of 'Zombie Heartbreaker'..." He said to himself, which earned him a confused look from Luigi.

"What?"

Larry shook his head. "Eh, nothing..."

Ludwig just gave a small snort of amusement. Only he would know of that past shame.

A loud 'crash' to the right of them startled everyone and got their attention - in a flash, the two Koopalings had their weapons out, the Mario Brothers readying themselves in their defensive stances with nothing but their steel capped boots. As anticipated, the door to the shop for 'Marsh Flowers' swung open and out staggered a sizable Toad, grunting and shambling. The appearance was exactly the same as they all witnessed before. Their talons were the first to be seen, as it flicked in eagerness for the hunt.

"Mama-mia..." Luigi muttered, still not believing what was happening. What could drive someone or something to do this?

Larry, sensing something behind him, turned around. "Oh no..." He said, causing the others to turn around with him - it seemed that the noise had made all of them crawl out of the woodworks. Tiny little Toads, all dark and evil and primal, roaring and flicking their talons.

They stared at the group with eager, soulless red eyes, ready to devour them at whatever cost. And what a prize this was, the Mario Brothers here... what a delicious meal to be had.

Larry felt himself seize up again at the sight of these things, the same feeling back at the castle. But this time, it was weak and he managed to push through the barrier, for whatever reason. He shook his head and decided to jump into action to make sure it wouldn't happen again. "Green cap!" He said, pointing to Luigi with his scepter. "On me!"

Luigi, through his moment of surprise, briskly nodded and joined Larry at the other side of the street, leaving Mario and Ludwig for themselves.

"Looks like I'm stuck with you." Ludwig murmured to Mario, as they backed up to clear some space for themselves.

"The feeling is the same, Von Koopa." Mario replied back, expression not changing. At this, he took a running jump and leapt high into the air; his aim true like a marksman, his shoes slammed straight down on top of the toad, which flattened it to a pancake. It gave a loud screech of pain as it clutched its head and Mario staggered back, seemingly in surprise.

"No... are they getting stronger? Usually, one stomp would finish them off!"

Ludwig quickly leapt into action and charged up some magic on his scepter, a vast array of triangles and shapes gaining power before he took aim. Mario watched as a long stream of cobalt blue magic streaked at lightning speed. An explosion of blue and the resounding scream of the dark toad meant that it was definitely gone. When the dust cleared, there was indeed nothing left.

"Hey, not bad!" A voice yelled at them across the street; Luigi gave the thumbs up to the pair and turned back to his share of the enemies now, now knowing a decent strategy. Ludwig and Mario paired up at the next toad coming towards them.

"How come I don't see that when I fight you?" He asked coyly, to which Ludwig gave him a deadpan look.

"Because," He said sophisticately. "It would be too easy for me, and too hard for you. I like to give a challenge, after all."

Mario gave a small laugh and readied himself again. "From the looks of it, that definitely looked like a challenge. You sure do like to underestimate me."

"Wow." Ludwig muttered again, feeling himself getting hot in the face. "When this is all over, said and done and we fight as enemies, you'll have to work hard to defeat me. That is, if you ever do."

"It's a plan." With that, Mario took off and leapt into the air again, stomping on the next toad. Ludwig did the same move as he did before, firing off magic. The method worked well, and almost for a second he forgot that he was fighting with one of his worst enemies of all time. He grimaced as their side seemed to be clear of enemies and looked away to the side. This situation is getting weirder and weirder by the second...

Mario walked across to the other side, seeing the other two finishing up as well. "Luigi!" He called, grinning when he saw his younger twin looking unharmed. "No problems?"

"None at all, bro!" He said triumphantly. "Larry is a pretty good fighter, if I do say so myself."

Larry scrunched his nose. "Yeah... thanks."

"When we're not fighting them they're pretty good at what they do," Mario remarked, fists on his hips. "Bowser trains his kids well."

"We're not his kids! We're... eh, never mind. It's a long story." Ludwig said, folding his arms. Luigi tilted his head at this, confused - he always thought they were Bowser's children. They were all related obviously, but they weren't related to him? They were adopted? They're obviously too young to be out on their own. He shared a look with Mario, who simply gave a shrug, before turning towards Peach's castle.

"We should move on before we get ambushed again."

Everyone nodded at this and in a run they took off down the main street.

"You should recognise this place." Mario said as they stood outside Peach's castle; specifically, on the stone bridge. Ludwig shot the red capped plumber a dirty look - when he wasn't being the silent hero, he certainly had a lot of tongue.

"Hey we only came here by our air ships or inside a cake," He replied, which prompted the recollection of the ingenious plan that had been proposed to them, no matter how silly it actually was. It worked, for starters. "My memory may be a little bad."

Larry gave a snicker and looked up. "Man, the Princess lives like... well, a princess. No wonder King Bowser wants this so badly."

"Hm, too bad there is no Princess."

"And no Bowser..."

Mario pushed the front doors open. "I'd rather have just the princess, thank you."

It was Luigi's turn to laugh, while the Koopalings entered the castle with sour expressions on their faces.

The main lobby was extravagant; the carpeted hall led to the open area, tiled with the iconic black and white scheme, the red carpet evolving into stairs. Straight ahead was the main staircase. The room seemed to be painted bright blue sky, with clouds and rainbows. It reminded Mario of old times, perilous times they were but it was still an adventure and a half. However, Larry just looked positively confused as he stepped into the middle of the room, looking around at how many doors there are.

"Huh, I don't remember it being like this when we last were here," He observed. "Does the layout change every year or what?!"

Mario just simply shook his head and began to ascend the staircase - Luigi in tow, the Koopalings again behind them. The youngest couldn't believe his eyes - this mansion was, to put it into his own thoughts, un-freaking-believable. Not even Castle Koopa was this extravagant!

"Holy shell!" He whispered excitedly to Ludwig. "This place is amazing! Imagine how much coin there is in this place! Wow! The Princess must be loaded!"

Ludwig's snout twitched - he would have to keep that in mind when this all goes back to normal. "Not now, Lawrence." He said simply. "When we're on less friendly terms with these two plumbers... maybe." Only because he knew King Bowser wouldn't like it if they looted the place where he was trying to win the Princesses favour. Not discounting the whole 'land acquisition through forceful means' approach.

_Bleh, no fun at all Ludwig Von Koopa,_ Larry thought bitterly to himself. By all means, this was the easiest approach into the castle that they'd ever done. All it took was backstabbing those Mario brothers in the back and running off to find the valuables. They could be rich and they could get away from Castle Koopa and live their own lives in paradise. Larry folded his arms and gave a small pout at his older brother.

"What are you two talking about down there?!" Mario shouted, giving them a look. Larry however, just looked innocent (which in his case was indignant).

"None of your business." He replied, and that made Mario's mustache bristle with annoyance. He sighed and pressed onwards, reaching the upper floor doors.

Again, it was empty.

"Just like last time," Luigi said, sighing and adjusting his cap. "Where is Bowser anyway?"

Just as Larry gave a small shrug, a rumbling resonated beneath their feet. The room began to quiver and shake and to the amazement of the group, darkness started seeping down the walls. Luigi yelped in fear and ran towards the door they just came through, but to his horror the doorknob wouldn't turn.

"What the heck is going on?!" Larry shouted, pulling his scepter out, watching as the dark filled the walls and hit the floor, making its way towards them. The group tried to step back away from it, unsure of what consequences would arise from being on it until they had piled up against Luigi, who was positively shaking now.

Thankfully, nothing came of it when the entire room was now darkness. However, Ludwig found his scales even pricking up from the sudden cold that had resonated around them. Even he could see his breath when he spoke and even for a Koopaling that was rare.

"Well... well... well," A deep, raspy and all too familiar voice that Larry recognised immediately. "If it isn't... the Mario Brothers... and Bowser's little children."

Mario growled and clenched his fist, looking at nowhere in particular. "Hey you! Give back the Princess!"

The voice laughed. "Lawrence Koopa... how nice it is to see you again..."

Larry just stayed silent, staring at nowhere as well. He didn't know what to say.

"If you are looking for the Princess... well... you won't find her here nor there. She could be anywhere. I won't say. All I will say is though, I am getting pleasure out of brainless plumbers walking around in circles... ah, the joys of revenge..."

"What do you want from us?!" Mario shouted again. "What is the point of all this?! Why did you corrupt everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom?!"

"Revenge... it hurts when you have something taken away from you, isn't it?"

The plumber growled and clenched his fists, feeling himself grow angrier by the second.

"While it is a perk that you weep so desperately for your beloved Princess, she is but only a little piece in my plan. It is amazing what things you find out about yourself when you stay hidden for so long..."

Ludwig shook his head. "Why King Bowser though?!" He asked. "What was the point of dragging him in?!"

"Oh... he and I go way back, young Ludwig. You weren't there to understand..."

Ludwig gave a small growl at this. He hated these mind tricks when they were used on him.

"Well now... since you are all here... I must ask you all to leave my castle post-haste. I have some arrangements that need fulfilling... oh, I almost forgot; Lawrence..."

Larry felt his heart drop and he began to back away.

"I want to talk to you... if that is okay."

"No, not really." He replied, to which the voice tutted.

"Merely a statement, young one," The floor began to glow and waver. "As for the rest of you... I bid you farewell."

Before any of the group could say anything, the floor gave way suddenly. The Mario brothers could only give off their distinctive cry as they fell through, dissolving into darkness as they were seperated from the Koopalings, who fell down their own paths, their screams resonating away as well.

* * *

><p>Ludwig felt like he had been falling for years. Headfirst into the black void, the nothingness that had enveloped him. He opened his eyes, feeling weary and tired all of a sudden. His eyelids were scratchy, heavy. Where am I? He tried to look around, but the sensation of air breezing past him kept from moving his head for some reason.<p>

What was happening to him? He felt... scared. That was a feeling he hadn't felt for a long time. Genuine, pure fear.

He hadn't felt like that since... since... it was sad that he couldn't even remember. It felt like such a long time ago... or maybe he was just too emotionless nowadays. Too many failures on his part had made him render himself stoic. What was the point of feelings if all they did was to make you feel hurt or sad or bad.

He should have felt scared when Lemmy disappeared. He should have been running up the walls in horror at that. Some sort of big brother he was... he couldn't even take care of his family. He couldn't even sympathise or feel for them when they got into bad situations.

Through his closed eyelids, he noticed a glow eminating through them. Opening them, he blinked and saw that he was crusing towards a tower completely surrounded by lava. He jolted upwards, hoping he could halt his rapidly fast descent, but he automatically did and glided gently until his feet hit the stony floor.

What was this place? Was this just some sort of really bad dream? What the heck was going on?

"Ludwig?!"

The Koopaling turned around and his eyes immediately widened at who was standing there.

* * *

><p>"Lawrence..."<p>

Larry slowed opened his eyes to the call of the voice, and was faced immediately with not darkness, but the spectrum between white and black. "Huh? Wha-?" He pulled himself up and realised that he was floating in nothingness. "What the? Ludwig?! Pipe cleaners?!"

"They're not here..."

It took a moment for the dull Koopaling to realise this, and when he did he just growled and clenched his fists. "Of course..." Memories of what happened came flooding back.

"You're a very special Koopaling, Lawrence Koopa. The youngest of your group, not blood related by King Bowser, yet the power I saw within you at Toad City was astronomical."

Larry blinked. "Wait.. you?! You were there?!"

"Of course... I was everywhere in your world, spreading my influence and corruption."

"Why? Why would you do this?!"

"... By all means, people consider you a very bad person. You use methods unlike your counterparts, the Mario Brothers, to scare your troops into submission."

"... What is your point?"

"My point is... you were not born like all others. You are very powerful, yet you still suffer under the tyrannical fist of someone who isn't even your father."

"He is my father!" Larry shouted, clenching his teeth. "He might not be my blood father, but he raised all of us like his own!"

"But all the love and support he gives, he gives to his own flesh and blood. Bowser Junior, if I am not mistaken," The voice argued calmly. "You see that at your home, right?"

Larry hesitated on the answer - he knew it was true, Bowser had given a lot more love to Junior since he was born, but confirming it would just allow this damn voice to manipulate him further!

"Oh yes, I know it," The voice purred. "You are the leader of a prestige army, second-in-command and yet your superior, King Bowser, doesn't treat you the way you deserve Lawrence. The reason that the Mario Brothers defeat you is because he employs the same tactics over and over again. He does not adapt and refuses to adopt new methods. He will keep doing the same thing over and over again and you will always take the fall for him, because he cannot fight himself. He is a coward, Lawrence."

"Come on!" Larry shouted. "You think I'm going to fall for that?! I am taken seriously!"

The voice paused for a moment, as if it was considering something, and then spoke. "What about your eldest brother?"

"Ludwig? What about him?"

"... Don't you notice that he always tries to undermine you at every turn? Always trying to be the better leader, always trying to intrude in on your authority, treating you like a child. He does not take you seriously, Lawrence. I know that kind of ilk - he will always be jealous that you beat him, even though he was obviously weaker than you."

He always did try to second-guess everything he ordered. Larry never realised it until now... sure, the backtalk bothered him a bit sometimes, but he never realised that it could be because Ludwig was jealous. It didn't seem to be out of his nature to do such a thing. After all, he did have that extreme bout of jealousy when Junior was born.

_Why aren't I heir to the throne?!_

_Just because he's actually Bowser's kid does not mean I am to be denied that!_

But he got over that... did he?

"Ah yes... I see the thinking, the hesitation in your eyes... you have just noticed it now, haven't you?"

Larry looked up, trying to erase the expression.

"Bowser, Ludwig and soon the rest of your siblings will never take you seriously. They will undermine you and consider you weak, when that is not the case. Let me help you, Lawrence, and you can unleash your true potential..."

"... Why did you tell me to worry about my family?"

"Hm? Oh... back in Toad City? Just a bit of harmless mind games."

"That's sick." Larry murmured, hating this voice even more and more. He began to feel himself being lifted up suddenly.

"Listen, I'm not an idiot," The voice said as it carried the Koopaling away. "I will put you away now. Please... think about my proposal to you."

"Wait, what are you-?!" He tried to wriggle free of his grasp, but instead light overwhelmed him. It didn't take long for him to fall unconscious.

* * *

><p>"Oh.. oh that's just great."<p>

Mario stirred from his stupor - how long had he been asleep? He blinked and looked around - Luigi was out cold next to him. The floor felt cold to the touch. As his gaze wavered up, he came face to face with a familiar fire breathing Koopa.

"Of all the cells I have to share with," King Bowser growled lowly, folding his arms. "It has to be with you two..."

* * *

><p>All characters (c) Nintendo<p> 


	8. Deepest Nightmares

A/N: If you're reading this still, thank you! ... That's all I got.

**Deepest Falls**

* * *

><p>The room that they were in was starting to wear on Lemmy's mind and senses; a normally hyperactive Koopaling was slowly wilting away to a dull shell resting up against the wall. The unrelenting cleanliness of the room shone greatly with its marble floors, its extravagant pillars and its crisp white colours... it was horrible! Terrible beyond belief! Who could ever survive living in such an awful place?! Well, besides that snot nosed useless Princess Peach... how could King Bowser have an infatuation with her anyway? What was his deal?! And now he had to run off and chase her in this time of crisis?!<p>

Lemmy slowed his thoughts, took a deep breath and rolled over; no, he didn't say that in his letter. He wasn't being his predictable self. No way he would willingly go to the Mushroom Kingdom without his army backing him up... so many questions had flow past the radar and just too late was he suddenly realising them.

He was the most immature Koopaling of them all, but Lemmy had claim as the eldest in the room. He wasn't stupid. Acted like a child sure, but he wasn't stupid.

Iggy knew too. He knew about all that and didn't say anything... he confirmed what they barely remembered years ago. So many years ago when it had become nothing but a bad and not to be remembered memory. They hadn't been told a thing. Why hadn't they been given a reason that Castle Koopa was in bad shape when they returned? Did they really just accept it and moved on with their lives? Didn't even bother to ask? They knew about... it and the immense amount of power it held... but they was all they had been given to know.

Was that how King Bowser treated his second-in-commands? Surely, they deserved better... he was a father to them.

But he shook his head; obviously, the isolation was driving him crazy. Seeing his siblings slowly tumble into the abyss along with him wasn't doing him any favours either.

Lemmy looked around and counted everyone off the top of his head again. Anything to keep his mind ticking.

Iggy, Roy, Morton, Wendy, Junior, myself...

Larry and Ludwig weren't with them, strangely. That wasn't to say that he wished that they were here... although it would be nice to at least know that big brother and baby brother was okay as well. He feared that they suffered some other fate. Something far worse.

He looked over to Iggy, who was sitting in the corner by himself; he had attempted conversation hours ago but he got nothing. Tempers flared, but Lemmy knew that he was feeling that overwhelming sense of guilt. He could have just doomed them all with his hesitence and secrecy... but he couldn't find it in his heart to get mad at him, strangely enough.

Still, there was no reason to expend his energy in such aggressive acts. Even if the temptation was all too overwhelming, what with his emotions changing suddenly left and right. He was hungry, tired, disoriented, lost track of time and wanted nothing more than just to wake up from this horrible nightmare.

The eldest in the room gave a sigh and looked at Roy, who was sitting up against the door. He looked more battered than the door he had tried to pull apart.

"What are you lookin' at?!" He snapped irritably, but Lemmy remained stoic.

"Nothing." He shrugged.

"Oh yeah? I don't mind believe dat for a dang second."

Morton growled from across the room, sensing another potential unnecessary fight. "Roy, shut up."

Roy snapped. "I will when you stop sticking up for dat brainiac that got us doomed!"

Even in his half-awake and despondant state, Lemmy felt a stir of anger in his stomach at the mention of hurting Iggy.

"I told you, it's not going to help!"

"As much as I don't want to say it, Morton is right," Wendy spoke up, stirring Junior who was still sitting above them on the shelves. "Being a drama queen isn't going to solve anything, and beating up Iggy isn't going to magically make things right! So why don't you drop the tough guy act?"

"And what, let them kill us in here?!" Roy said indignantly. "You pipsqueaks ain't doin' nuthin' to help da situation! Instead you're content on sitting on your asses and waiting for whatever is being planned for ya!"

Lemmy suddenly stood up, fists balled at his sides. "If you want to help, why don't you shut up for once Roy!?" He shouted, his voice reaching an angry, high tone that everyone was too surprised to bother laughing at. "Everything you have done so far has helped nothing! We have tried everything we can and there is absolutely nothing we can do! You are wasting your energy and everyone elses in here by being nothing but a selfish, insecure whining idiot! Did you ever think to ask why are we here, why did King Bowser run off all of a sudden, why are the Princesses missing... ?! There is something big going on here behind the scenes and all you're focused on is venting your anger on someone who feels obvious guilt for what he had done! So why don't you participate in an intelligent discussion for once in your damn life and think instead of fight?!"

Everyone went dead silent, save for the soft crackling of the torches above them; not even Roy had anything to say in return. He just sat there, jaw agape, surprised at what had just transpired before him. The slow, tired cogs in his brain slowly registering that yes, indeed, that goofy clown had just given him the biggest verbal thrashing of his life. And that hurt a lot more than physical pain could ever do.

Iggy was staring at amazement from his little corner. "Lemmy..." He breathed.

"Please..." Lemmy begged. "Can we just... not fight? Can we just calm down and be strong? It's horrible to be in here but... we have to stick together and not lose our cool. Remember, we're a team... but most importantly, we're family. And I'm scared too. I'm damn scared."

Wendy looked at the ground meekly. "... I am too."

"Yeah..." Morton intoned, hugging his legs.

Roy just huffed and rolled over, facing away from everyone.

Lemmy shook his head and looked up to Junior, who was just staring back down and stoic as well. But it didn't take a super genius to see that he was hurting and scared inside too.

"I just hope Papa is okay..." He mumbled, mostly to himself, but Lemmy heard it as well. He sat down up against the wall, the spot he had been occupying for the past few hours and rested his head up.

He closed his eyes. "I hope so too."

* * *

><p>Nothing could be more humiliating than being saddled with those two plumbers. No matter what... no matter how many times he fought them, no matter how much distance he had taken between himself and those two... nothing in the world that he could do could keep himself and the Mario Brothers from crossing paths. King Bowser found himself to be patient, regal and most importantly of all, plain awesome. But one thing that he had found himself lacking throughout all the years was his patience.<p>

So when he was sitting in his cage, growling and muttering to himself about how he'd personally crush whoever put him in there, he felt nothing but the red hot rage after the initial surprise of Red 'Stache and Green 'Stache appearing in a heap in front of him for no discernable reason. Bowser had the optimistic feeling that they might actually be dead, but his hopes were squashed when Mario twitched and began to move. Even then though, he couldn't bring himself to kill them both. He was just too tired.

He just stared at the pair as they slowly gained consciousness.

"Of all the cells I have to share with," He growled lowly, folding his arms. "It has to be with you two..."

Mario braced himself with gloved hands on the cold, bronze metallic floor of the cage, mustasche bristling at the sound of his archnemesis. Oh, believe me, the feeling is mutual. How many times does this have to happen before they just realise they were meant to be lifelong friends or something? He shivered at the thought, especially when Luigi bought it up as a joke once. Oh, the horror...

Luigi had sat up, clutching his head in pain. "Ooooh, mama-mia..."

"Better deal with it, Greenie," Bowser said somewhat tiredly. "No hospitals in here..."

When he spoke, Luigi's head snapped up in surprise to stare at the big bad King Koopa but nothing came of it. He was just too drained of energy to even be scared. Instead, he looked around wearily, got up and sat down opposite him. Mario gave a small 'hmpf' of annoyance and clutched the bars, staring out into the great dark abyss beyond.

"Don't try it," Bowser said matter-of-factly. "I tried ages ago and it won't work."

Mario grunted and started to shake the bars. "How many victories have you had against us? It is no surprise that you cannot break open a simple cage."

Bowser huffed smoke out of his nose in annoyance and shook his head. "Pathetic..."

The meekest of the brothers, however, just proceeded to take a seat across from Bowser. No doubt that Luigi was feeling a tiny bit nervous within himself at being this close to Bowser, but as silence reigned within their little metal prison, a question formed in his mind.

"Hey, Bowser?"

The king looked at him, mildly annoyed. "What?"

Luigi couldn't resist a little grin. "How come you aren't crushing us to pieces at the moment? This is your moment, after all."

"Luigi!" Mario snapped, suddenly standing to attention with his fists balled. However, to their surprise, Bowser just gave a weak laugh and dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

"You think I'm stupid?" He asked. "I wouldn't know what you two idiots would pull out of your sewer encrusted sleeves."

At Bowser's somewhat less than convincing answer, Mario decided to join in on the fun. "Hey Luigi, I think that's Bowser speak for 'I'm too weak'."

"Yeah, I reckon Bowser is too proud to admit that, Mario!" Luigi laughed.

Bowser made a mental note to crush them into pieces later - seeing his scowl, Mario shook his head, a mischeavous grin plastered on his tired face.

"Oh don't worry," He reassured, taking a seat next to Luigi. "We're pretty out of it too. It's hard to even lift a finger at the moment."

Bowser hardly believed that.

* * *

><p>"Ludwig?!"<p>

The Koopaling turned around and his eyes immediately widened at who was standing there.

He had lost track of how many times today that he had been rendered speechless, but this was turning out to be on his top list.

Eventually, he did find his words.

"L-Lemmy?!"

Indeed, his eyes didn't decieve him - Lemmy was right there, having gotten up from his corner in the room. He looked bruised and battered, but thankfully alive! Now that he knew that his younger brother wasn't dead, the tension began to subside in his stomach. But it was obvious that he was in bad shape. They all were. They hadn't been this battle drained in years.

"You-you're alive, Ludwig!" Lemmy exclaimed, standing uneasily on his little legs. "But... hang on... why are you here too?"

Ludwig tilted his head at this question, and looked around - to his shock, all of his siblings were there too. Everyone sitting around in this tiny white room. But something was off about them all. Ludwig knew that he never got along too well with the rest of them, but they wouldn't react to his presence like... this?

Their eyes stared unflinching at him. As if they were judging, scrutinising him. They just stared at him continously, not even blinking, not even breaking sight. Blank expressions on their faces.

"W-what do you mean?" Ludwig asked uneasily, trying to not seem spooked.

"All of us were captured... and you too now?!" Lemmy sneered. "Well, that isn't a surprise..."

It was as if someone had shot an ice cold bolt through his chest. "L-Lemmy...!" Ludwig exclaimed, not believing how Lemmy was speaking to him at the moment. That was pure malice and hate behind that tone of voice and the angry gaze he was being given by his normally goofy brother.

"You left me to die, Ludwig!" Lemmy shouted, fists balled and tears welling up in his eyes. "You're an awful brother! You let us all get captured! Including Larry!"

Ludwig began to back away, his gaze flicking to the others for support, but their glares seemed to grow angrier by the second.

"We're all going to die, because you're an awful brother!"

"Lemmy!" Ludwig shouted back. "That's not true! How can you say such things?!"

"Because it's true!" Lemmy countered. "You are incompetent at everything! You act all high and mighty with your fancy music and food tastes, but you're just jealous that you're not the leader and heir!"

The eldest growled at these words. His fists shook as rage started to build up inside of him - what the heck was Lemmy on?! What was everyone on?! This was surreal and strange and scary all at the same time! Was this real?! It felt like it... but this was so out of character.

"I tried!" He argued, feeling the tears in his own eyes. "I tried so hard! You know how much I worry about you all?! I tried so hard to protect you all and I'm sorry I couldn't stop this, but please, I do care!"

"Lies!"

"No! I am not lying, Lemmy! You know me!"

"I-I thought I knew you! But you're worthless, Ludwig! Larry is a much better leader!"

Ludwig felt the colour drain from his face when he looked up over his brother's shoulder, and was confronted with Lawrence. But he wasn't his usual self, the kind of unique look he gave him whenever they were together. Instead, it was the same as all the others. Hate. Disappointment.

Larry quipped. "Hah, that's right Lemmy! I was picked as leader because I'm not such a failure!"

Ludwig growled. "Shut up! I am not a failure!"

"Oh yeah?!" Larry sneered, folding his arms. "How come you didn't do anything to protect us? You never take initiative. No wonder King Bowser doesn't like you. He never did, anyway. After all, I'm his favourite."

"There's a good reason why, Larry!" Lemmy laughed. In unison, everyone else began to laugh along with him. It wasn't the natural, evil laughter that Ludwig had come to recognise over the years. It felt... almost robotic. He shivered and held himself, feeling like there was nothing left in this world. He had failed. He had failed to do his one job - protect his family. Instead, they were all rotting somewhere unknown and they all hated him. Because they relied on him and he failed.

Lemmy was right. Larry was right. They all were.

Suddenly, everyone snapped their heads towards him. "What are you still doing here?!" Lemmy growled, and one by one, the individual Koopalings began to rise. "You are not welcome here!"

He had pressed himself up against a wall, looking on in pure fear as his siblings advanced on him. Toothy grins of murderous evil, claws sharpened and ready to strike. He knew that pleading was not the way to go. Nothing would work. Except submitting to his fate. And that was a fate he was ready to embrace as sufficient punishment for his crimes. The laughters of his siblings echoed in his ears as they laid the first strike on him, drawing blood, throwing him to the ground. But he did not attempt to get up. His tears rolled down his face, clutching onto whatever he could think about at the moment...

"Ludwig!"

... He had nothing but full regrets.

"Ludwig!"

Each strike hurt, but Ludwig knew he deserved it. It didn't take long for his siblings to finish the job, the laughter still piercing his mind as he fell down, away from all the pain and torture he had endured. Into the darkness of it all, where he had nothing but his own body and the feeling of his own blood running down his body.

"Come on, Ludwig!"

He felt a weird shaking sensation on him, but Ludwig couldn't discern it. He wanted to reach a hand up to stop it, but his body felt like heavy metal. Nothing would move, no matter how hard he tried.

"Please, Ludwig, please, get up!"

The voice... it was so familiar. So warming, welcoming. It was the voice of someone who had two personalities of the way he spoke. Only he knew of that second personality, the one that he adored so much. Coming home to be welcomed into that...

Either it wasn't his time or something in the universe was prone to mercy... or perhaps, just being a cosmic joker because the first thing Ludwig felt that he had control of was his eyelids. As he opened them slowly, the black blurriness giving way to a figure standing above him with a look of... concern on his face. Fear, perhaps? He couldn't tell.

"L-Ludwig!" The figure said in relief, and he become briefly aware that he was being hugged. "I thought you were dead!"

Wasn't he? Ludwig found control in his mouth, but all the words that come out was a drunken slur of attempts at forming words. He wanted to say so many questions, but they just blended into one incomprehensible sentence that he attempted to ask nonetheless. Even as he blurted out a stream of nonscence, the stranger above looked overjoyed at his apparent wellness.

He felt drops on his chest, his body, his face. The blood was still there.

Thunder rumbled and lightning crashed in the background.

Ludwig blinked - no, he wasn't... it was probably rain. His vision began to clear and he began to recognise again.

"L-Larry...?" He slurred again, trying to force himself a smile. Larry completed it for him, smiling happily as the heavy rain poured down on both of them - his mohawk in particular drooped down on one side of his face, his shell taking on a noticeable shine and his arms and legs slick with mud. But they were both alive.

At least, Ludwig thought they were. But Larry had just tried to kill him... why was he happy that he was alive? And why were they outside? Weren't they in a building?

He attempted to get himself up, feeling like he had more control of himself, the other brother helping him up slowly.

Ludwig looked wearily at Larry. "W-where are we?" He asked. Larry shrugged.

"I don't know," He answered honestly, shivering from the cold, his breath showing up in the crisp rain storm that they had been caught in. "I just woke up... and I saw you close by... and you weren't breathing and I was just hoping that you would make it..."

"Larry... we're not dead, are we?" Ludwig asked again.

"I... I hope not."

He blinked and held himself, getting shivers again at the nightmarish image of Larry's murderous grin. What was he playing at? "But... you... you tried to kill me... you all did..."

Larry's eyes widened, taken aback by this. "What? No! I didn't! Dude, don't you remember?! We went to Peach's Castle and we got swallowed by that... that darkness..."

It took Ludwig a few moments to process all this, his stare blankly looking beyond the trees that surrounded them. The cogs started rotating and he began to remember. At the crack of lightning in the distance, he suddenly dug his hands into his face and fell to the ground. It was a nightmare. It was just a nightmare.

But he couldn't stop himself crying as much as the skies letting down rain at that moment.

"Formidable little kids you have there, King Bowser."

"Shut up! I don't have to listen to you!"

"On the contrary, I am you. So technically, you're listening to me all the time."

"Ugh, whatever!"

"I had the chance to meet Ludwig and Lawrence - their age gaps are enormous, but they are close as kin..."

"I'll tear you an enormous gap when I find you..."

"They hold great power. The time spent in your body had given me access to your feelings, your memories... you hold such affection, such pride. Not only for Lawrence and Ludwig, but for the rest of your Koopalings as well."

"Hey! Why don't you mind your own business!? Grrrr! What is your game anyway?!"

"Oh? My game, King Bowser? Nothing except a bit of revenge. But I am not like you - I do not wish to exact revenge for my forcible exit from my beloved host. I was born on something different. I am the brains of evil... which was why I am so sad that you rejected me."

"When you mess with my kingdom, you are no ally of mine!"

"But we pair so well, you and I. You are the brawn, I am the brains. Together, we would be unstoppable. But instead, you reject me. And now you must face the consequences of your actions and then you will see that I do not need a host to carry out my plans."

"Plans?! Heh, buddy, I know what your plans are."

"Hm?"

"Taking over the world, right?! Hah, big deal! Everyone's doing that nowadays!"

"Indeed, it can be a cliche when one thinks about it but it is my ultimate goal. The means to achieve it are nearly there. That idiot Fawful had, to his credit, given me the proper ideas and training needed to empower myself."

"So you took the princesses...?"

"Yes - the ones that rule their kingdoms, born of pure heart, soul and mind. Their energy knows no bounds and can stretch from here to the end of the world."

"What does my Koopalings have to do with all that?!"

"Oh? Nothing, if I can be honest. They are just simply the playthings when I'm bored... but then I saw that Ludwig and Lawrence, they have flaws. There are little cracks underneath those hardened shells of theirs. And my purpose, King Bowser, is to exploit them for my amusement. And to show you how it feels to have everything ripped from you slowly, bit by bit. I have laid waste to your empire. Now I will tear your own family apart. When that is over, then you will be next."

"You.. you bastard..."

"The seeds of doubt and malice have been planted in your boys... so I advise you sit back and watch the show."

* * *

><p><strong>All characters (C) Nintendo<strong>


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